Editorial: More than open enrollment needed to boost Idaho grad rates

Idaho needs more college graduates, and the state Board of Education is considering a policy that would pre-admit every qualified high school senior who might attend one of the state’s eight college and junior college institutions.

The idea is worth exploring; as a way of simplifying and reducing the cost of the application process, and inducing all students – from seniors on down – to aspire to higher education.

But more freshmen in does not necessarily mean more seniors out.

Statistically, the opposite is true.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, universities with open admission policies for their 2007 incoming class graduated 34 percent of their students after six years. As selectivity increased, the percent of students leaving campuses with a degree also grew, until it reached almost 90 percent for schools that accepted 25 percent of their applicants or less.

There is no better illustration of this than in the Idaho university system itself.

Idaho State University has an open enrollment policy. Lewis-Clark State College admits 99 percent of applicants. Four-year graduation rates for those campuses are 9 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

Boise State University, with an acceptance rate of 85 percent, graduates 8 percent in four years.

The University of Idaho accepts 61 percent and graduates 23 percent.

The same pattern holds true in Washington.

The University of Washington Seattle campus admits only 58 percent of applicants, but graduates 59 percent in four years. Washington State University admits 76 percent and graduates 38 percent. For Eastern Washington University, the numbers are 79 percent admitted, 21 percent graduated.

Open admissions sets too many students up for failure if they are not prepared for college, and cannot manage the costs. And while it encourages underclassmen to raise their sights, an open shot at more academics may turn the heads of some who would do better to pursue a trade. Skilled blue-collar workers will do very well as the cohort ahead of them retires.

Much work remains for Board of Education members and higher education officials, in particular determining what qualifies a student, about which the universities will have their own ideas.

Still, this is an initiative worth exploring. As the board’s outgoing executive director said, what Idaho is doing now is not working. College attendance and graduation rates are below the national average.

But reshuffling the admissions process will only go so far if the resources are not there for support like student aid. Tuition is relatively low compared with that of neighboring state university systems, but so are household incomes.

Make sure that after four years, or even six years, more than one-half of freshmen graduate with a wide open future.