Analysis of Inequities in the Requirements for Admission to the University System of Georgia

Freshman Admission Requirements

1. The CPC requirement:
   
   • Applicants must meet the following criteria: "Completion of the University System of Georgia’s College Preparatory Curriculum (CPC) requirements at and graduation from" an accredited or regulated high school.
   • "Students applying to any institution must present credit for 16 specified CPC units; students applying to state colleges and state universities and to regional universities must also present credit for two additional academic CPC units; and applicants to research universities must present credit for four additional academic CPC units."

   "Credit for … CPC units" refers to credits on a high school transcript. Credit for CPC units on a transcript from a qualifying high school are acceptable only if the student graduated from the high school. Consideration is not given, under these requirements, to students who have completed the CPC but have not graduated from an accredited high school, yet.

   The USG does not specify a minimum grade or assessment test score to award credit for any CPC course.

   • Specific CPC requirements for Mathematics: "the minimum requirements for regular admission into a University System institution will include successful completion of four college preparatory, high school level mathematics Carnegie units (excluding pre-algebra) which terminate with geometry and algebra II. This minimum requirement allows for the possibility of a student taking longer than one year to complete one of the required subjects." However, students will be expected to have completed courses that terminate with advanced algebra and trigonometry or a course of equivalent level.

   Note that accredited applicants are awarded credit for four CPC units by taking only three different math courses: algebra I, geometry, and algebra II.

   • Specific CPC requirements for Science: "Three college preparatory Carnegie units are required, with at least one laboratory course from the life sciences and one laboratory course from the physical sciences."

   Both the Physical Science and the Physics courses, as defined by the GA Department of Education, are laboratory courses from the physical sciences area. The Physical Science course is less challenging than Physics.

   • Other choices from the physical sciences include Astronomy, Meteorology, Chemistry, Earth Science, Geology, and Oceanography.
   
   
2. The Freshman Index (FI):
   
   • Applicants must meet or exceed a designated Freshman Index (FI).

     FI = 500 x (HSGPA) + SAT I verbal + SAT I math

   HSGPA is the high school grade point average. The SAT I test (with verbal and math portions) is considered an aptitude test and is called a "reasoning" test by the College Board. The FI gives almost equal weight to the composite SAT I score and HSGPA.

   • For the FI, the HSGPA is calculated only on the 16 CPC units required for all sectors.

   This policy satisfies the latest data from the college board indicating that SAT I scores and HSGPA, when considered together, are a more effective predictor of college grades than either the SAT I scores or HSGPA considered individually.

   • If a student repeats a course due to receiving a poor grade after the first attempt, the better of the two grades may be used in the calculation.
   • High schools are permitted to give more weight to the grades for advanced courses such as AP, IB, or honors courses, even though the maximum HSGPA for the FI will be 4.0.

   In spite of these considerations, the coursework and scoring data used to calculate HSGPA’s are not standardized, norm-referenced, or criterion-referenced. In other words, the achievement required for the same score varies from course to course, class to class, and school to school. HSGPA’s are not tested for validity and, according to data from the Georgia Department of Education and the College Board, have been inflating. See the web site http://www.collegeboard.org/press/senior98/html/satt10.html.

   By considering only the HSGPA and not individual course grades, the USG allows better grades in some courses to compensate for poorer grades in others. This illustrates that, aside from presenting "credit", the USG does not require a minimum achievement in any particular course in order to count it toward CPC compliance. Also, notice that the FI allows a stronger SAT I composite score to compensate for a weaker HSGPA and vise-versa. This is yet another illustration that, aside from presenting "credit", the USG is not requiring a minimum proficiency in each CPC unit.

   • The USG has assigned a different minimum acceptable FI for each sector; therefore, each sector has a different minimum for the composite of aptitude test scores and HSGPA for accredited applicants:

   Sector	Qty. of 1996 Freshmen	Minimum FI	Ex. of qualifying composite
   Research	6415	2500	1160 SAT I and 2.7 HSGPA
   Regional	4470	2040	962 SAT I and 2.2 HSGPA
   State	7909	1940	946 SAT I and 2.0 HSGPA
   Associate	7058	1830	910 SAT I and 1.8 HSGPA

   The above examples of qualifying composites are based on the average of the SAT I scores of the freshmen enrolled in each sector in the 1996/1997 school year. Each HSGPA is calculated to be the lowest necessary to meet the minimum FI when matched with the SAT I score. For perspective, compare the SAT I scores with the average of the SAT I scores for all GA test takers each year, which is about 960 and for the national average, which is about 1017. Also, for comparison, the average of the HSGPA’s of all GA public high school students is consistently above 3.0 and rising.

   The USG defined a "minimally knowledgeable" accredited applicant as one who would have an SAT I composite score of 830 and an HSGPA of 2.0 (resulting in an FI of 1830). Such a student would, therefore, qualify only for an associate-level college.

3. The minimum SAT I score requirement:

Applicants must have an SAT I score of at least 430 verbal and 400 math for admission to any of the top three sectors. Applicants not meeting that requirement but with SAT I scores of at least 330 verbal and 310 math may be considered for admission to an associate-level college, but will be required, if admitted, to "exempt or exit" the learning support program (includes developmental studies) in the areas of deficiency.

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