Norfolk State revises admissions standards

NORFOLK

Revised admissions rules approved Friday will allow some low-achieving students to get into Norfolk State University while striving to increase the academic profile of future Spartans.

The guidelines also correct concerns highlighted in an internal audit of the school's admissions process.

The new criteria, effective immediately, will cap the number of students who fall below minimum requirements to no more than 10 percent of entering freshmen. The goal is to reduce that to 5 percent over several years.

Under rules approved by the Board of Visitors in 2007, incoming freshmen must have at least a 2.3 grade-point average, a combined 800 SAT math and critical-reading score, and other requirements.

The university, however, had a practice of accepting some who didn't make the cut if officials felt, after interviews and recommendations, that the students could be successful.

"The new admissions criteria was aimed at balancing the requirement for attracting excellent students at Norfolk State, with the historical goal of access to education by those who might not normally have it," said Ed Hamm, board rector.

He said he does not anticipate any drop in enrollment next fall with the new guidelines.

Enrollment has climbed during the past three years and leapt about 10 percent this fall, to close to 7,000.

This wouldn't be the first time the university had a policy that allowed a certain number of students who didn't meet requirements; in the late 1990s, it was as high as 25 percent.

Friday's action follows an internal audit showing that NSU had a "significant" number of ineligible applicants, not only freshmen, who were processed for admission during the past three years.

The investigation was the result of an employee complaint in March to the State Employee Fraud, Waste and Abuse Hotline Program. The audit was not released by the university, and Hamm said he would not comment at this time. A summary was obtained by The Virginian-Pilot from a former employee.

The report found that some admissions decisions were made without the required documents or before receiving official transcripts and SAT scores. The board's 2007 policy did not allow that.

The audit said that senior management was told that corrections to the process were warranted.

According to figures from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, Norfolk State's freshmen profile has remained relatively steady during the past three years. The median SAT total is 860, while the median high school GPA has crept up from 2.66 in 2007 to 2.7 this fall.

Denise Watson Batts, (757) 446-2504, denise.batts@pilot

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