What are the implications of having open-door admissions?
The idea of providing education for everyone comes with difficult social and economic challenges. These challenges include being able to provide education at an affordable cost while being conflicted by social myths and maintaining a high academic standard.
While the demand for college education keeps increasing in order to achieve an economically stable lifestyle, it is necessary for institutions to expand their financial support and admissions. Most of today’s college student body includes first college generation individuals coming from low-income and middle-class families, and members of racial and minority groups are increasing attendance in the southwestern, and southeastern regions of the United States. This change in demographics is pressuring colleges into increasing their admission capacity [1]. Policies such as open-door admissions are able to provide for this need of education.
Although financial challenges have been presented due to the economic downfall of 2008, such as state governments being less able to continue supporting public universities [1], colleges and universities have taken possible actions to lower tuition prices and therefore be able to provide affordable education for everyone. In the course of the past five years after colleges have tried to reduce costs; they have succeeded by reducing costs by at least 3.5%, in addition to scholarship money being raised and awarded [1]. Journalists and the general public remain unsatisfied by the amount of debt that college students acquire through their years of attending a university. Although, the total amount of student debt is substantially higher than before, exceeding $1 trillion and exceeding the total U.S credit card debt, this number is not evidence that the college tuition is too high, but that more students are able to attend college [1]. However some individuals continue to question if obtaining a college degree is rewarding.
There are several myths that have grown in the American population; these include: college education is not a beneficial investment, college is just a financial burden to students and their families, colleges have no reduced costs, student debt is out of control, and students do not receive the necessary financial support [1]. Many people believe that college is excessively expensive and that it is unnecessary to require a college degree to lean how to manage in the “adult world”. About one fifth of students who borrow money to pay for college and drop out before completing a career, accumulate about $20,000 in debt [2]. This means that a student entering a university is at risk of failure while still acquiring a tremendous amount of debt. Working class parents who understand that there is a high risk of obtaining a huge debt for little education are looking for other alternatives such as vocational schools [2]. A school that offers open enrollment does not necessarily guarantees the success of a student.
In addition the belief that college is unnecessary to obtain financial stability presents an additional challenge for institutions trying to provide higher education. The idea that even after dropping out of college it is possible to make a good profit exists; this is shown in the example of “the Bill Gates” effect. People who have known Bill Gates from college believe that “like the occasional star athlete who makes it big, Gates is not a model for most young people” and they still believe that college is a necessary long-term investment [1]. At the same time this problem is linked with the lack of motivation of students to obtain higher education. The academic environment is often seen as non-scholastic and “student fun” [8]. Students are giving tremendous amount of support and start to devaluate the opportunity that they are given. With the monetary help such as financial aid and the easy access of college education through open admission facilities, some students lack the incentive to overcome challenging academic situations.
Professor Rosenbaum [9] shared his experience when working at a school with a 91 percent acceptance rate, and a graduation rate of 26 percent. He describes that it was especially difficult because his students seemed to have no interest in acquiring knowledge.
Rosenbaum stated that he must lower the standards and thus, the quality of learning in order to not fail the majority of the students. If the professor were to keep the standards at a high level, then it would not be beneficial in his career or could even endanger his job. There is the idea that there is no purpose on providing education for every student if they will lack the interest in learning. However the standard of education in most open enrollment universities remains high quality just like the education provided in more prestigious schools. Dr. James Becvar, a chemistry professor at The University of Texas at El Paso, a school with a 99 percent admission rate, explains that in the General Chemistry 1306 course the level of the class remains high quality and the standards are not substantially lowered; there might be however some sort of grade inflation that has decreased with the years in order to maintain a high standard of the course. Furthermore there is no standard in how many students should pass a class and there is no repercussion on professor from the university [personal communication, April 10, 2014]. It is challenging for faculty members at these institutions to maintain high academic standards while trying to help all students succeed but not impossible.
People who teach and administer institutions must decide whether to go with the cultural drift and lower the expectation of their students, or they resist the current and set higher standards in the curriculum and requirements of education [11]. It is important for administrators and educators to maintain high standards in academics in order to preserve the quality of education even when it’s inconvenient; "if the principles of academic integrity are abandoned faculty members will be engaging in a serious piece of marketing fraud” [11]. Students and parents are expecting to obtain quality of education for the amount of money that they are paying to the school. Additionally the community in general that provides money for financial aid expects the delivery of high quality education for their tax money.
If students are unable to maintain the high standards that they are expected to accomplish then the question remains if education for everyone should be provided. If the answer is “no” then the system must identify those who cannot “buy the product” [11]. Although the idea of open-admissions benefits many students, at least there must be a warning for those who will not succeed; “unless we are callous and sadistic, we should not encourage applications from those who are almost most certain to end in utter failure” [11]. Just 23 percent of student who enter four-year colleges graduate within six years, half of the students who enter two-year community colleges drop before their second year, and only 25 percent finish the program within three years [2]. If students are unable to meet these requirements they should be warned of the financial repercussions that they will acquire in consequence of the “education for everyone” promise.
Following the same context, if the standards are lower in consequence of students being unable to meet the standards then there might be in the next decade not only be open admissions but also open graduation; today families are already questioning if college it is worth the price, the movement toward open admission and everyone obtaining a college degree will increase public disillusionment [11].
While the demand for college education keeps increasing in order to achieve an economically stable lifestyle, it is necessary for institutions to expand their financial support and admissions. Most of today’s college student body includes first college generation individuals coming from low-income and middle-class families, and members of racial and minority groups are increasing attendance in the southwestern, and southeastern regions of the United States. This change in demographics is pressuring colleges into increasing their admission capacity [1]. Policies such as open-door admissions are able to provide for this need of education.
Although financial challenges have been presented due to the economic downfall of 2008, such as state governments being less able to continue supporting public universities [1], colleges and universities have taken possible actions to lower tuition prices and therefore be able to provide affordable education for everyone. In the course of the past five years after colleges have tried to reduce costs; they have succeeded by reducing costs by at least 3.5%, in addition to scholarship money being raised and awarded [1]. Journalists and the general public remain unsatisfied by the amount of debt that college students acquire through their years of attending a university. Although, the total amount of student debt is substantially higher than before, exceeding $1 trillion and exceeding the total U.S credit card debt, this number is not evidence that the college tuition is too high, but that more students are able to attend college [1]. However some individuals continue to question if obtaining a college degree is rewarding.
There are several myths that have grown in the American population; these include: college education is not a beneficial investment, college is just a financial burden to students and their families, colleges have no reduced costs, student debt is out of control, and students do not receive the necessary financial support [1]. Many people believe that college is excessively expensive and that it is unnecessary to require a college degree to lean how to manage in the “adult world”. About one fifth of students who borrow money to pay for college and drop out before completing a career, accumulate about $20,000 in debt [2]. This means that a student entering a university is at risk of failure while still acquiring a tremendous amount of debt. Working class parents who understand that there is a high risk of obtaining a huge debt for little education are looking for other alternatives such as vocational schools [2]. A school that offers open enrollment does not necessarily guarantees the success of a student.
In addition the belief that college is unnecessary to obtain financial stability presents an additional challenge for institutions trying to provide higher education. The idea that even after dropping out of college it is possible to make a good profit exists; this is shown in the example of “the Bill Gates” effect. People who have known Bill Gates from college believe that “like the occasional star athlete who makes it big, Gates is not a model for most young people” and they still believe that college is a necessary long-term investment [1]. At the same time this problem is linked with the lack of motivation of students to obtain higher education. The academic environment is often seen as non-scholastic and “student fun” [8]. Students are giving tremendous amount of support and start to devaluate the opportunity that they are given. With the monetary help such as financial aid and the easy access of college education through open admission facilities, some students lack the incentive to overcome challenging academic situations.
Professor Rosenbaum [9] shared his experience when working at a school with a 91 percent acceptance rate, and a graduation rate of 26 percent. He describes that it was especially difficult because his students seemed to have no interest in acquiring knowledge.
Rosenbaum stated that he must lower the standards and thus, the quality of learning in order to not fail the majority of the students. If the professor were to keep the standards at a high level, then it would not be beneficial in his career or could even endanger his job. There is the idea that there is no purpose on providing education for every student if they will lack the interest in learning. However the standard of education in most open enrollment universities remains high quality just like the education provided in more prestigious schools. Dr. James Becvar, a chemistry professor at The University of Texas at El Paso, a school with a 99 percent admission rate, explains that in the General Chemistry 1306 course the level of the class remains high quality and the standards are not substantially lowered; there might be however some sort of grade inflation that has decreased with the years in order to maintain a high standard of the course. Furthermore there is no standard in how many students should pass a class and there is no repercussion on professor from the university [personal communication, April 10, 2014]. It is challenging for faculty members at these institutions to maintain high academic standards while trying to help all students succeed but not impossible.
People who teach and administer institutions must decide whether to go with the cultural drift and lower the expectation of their students, or they resist the current and set higher standards in the curriculum and requirements of education [11]. It is important for administrators and educators to maintain high standards in academics in order to preserve the quality of education even when it’s inconvenient; "if the principles of academic integrity are abandoned faculty members will be engaging in a serious piece of marketing fraud” [11]. Students and parents are expecting to obtain quality of education for the amount of money that they are paying to the school. Additionally the community in general that provides money for financial aid expects the delivery of high quality education for their tax money.
If students are unable to maintain the high standards that they are expected to accomplish then the question remains if education for everyone should be provided. If the answer is “no” then the system must identify those who cannot “buy the product” [11]. Although the idea of open-admissions benefits many students, at least there must be a warning for those who will not succeed; “unless we are callous and sadistic, we should not encourage applications from those who are almost most certain to end in utter failure” [11]. Just 23 percent of student who enter four-year colleges graduate within six years, half of the students who enter two-year community colleges drop before their second year, and only 25 percent finish the program within three years [2]. If students are unable to meet these requirements they should be warned of the financial repercussions that they will acquire in consequence of the “education for everyone” promise.
Following the same context, if the standards are lower in consequence of students being unable to meet the standards then there might be in the next decade not only be open admissions but also open graduation; today families are already questioning if college it is worth the price, the movement toward open admission and everyone obtaining a college degree will increase public disillusionment [11].