Open admission s is an important change in the entry procedures to a major social institution. Several variations of open enrollment have been noted: (1) complete universal higher education based on individual desire; (2) universal entry on the basis of particular needs and talents; and (3) admission of a percentage of students under different…

This document contains a number of papers commissioned by the American College Testing Program (ACT) and the American Association for Higher Education (AAHE), and published as a result of the interest and debate about open admissions policies. Part I concerns the question "Who should decide who goes to college?"; Part II,"Who should go to…

Discusses the problems and progress of Open Admissions at City University of New York. (DM)

The effects of relaxed college admission standards vary across students. A relaxed standard may raise the number of graduates but reduces nongraduates' productivity. The effect on the graduation rate is ambiguous, since "marginal" college attendees are less likely to graduate. A lower admission standard reduces performance among students exceeding…

A project was undertaken in 1970-76 whose principal purpose was to study the prospects of two-way communication between an administrative authority (the office of the chancellor of the Swedish universities) and the general public (prospective students in the national plan for wider admissions). It grew out of criticism of a proposed national…

Data were collected about certain pre-open admissions characteristics of a College, which could serve as a basis for evaluating related post-open characteristics. The College and University Environment Scale was selected for the study, because it seemed to come closest to measuring the dimensions of college "climate" believed to be…

A study of persistence/dropout among open admissions college students found: (1) accurate predictions cannot be made for individual students at the time of matriculation; and (2) it is possible to predict that about 80 percent of future groups will fall in the persist category after two semesters, 51 percent after four semesters. (CMG)

This retrospective picture of college students over the past 30 years reflects what has been written about students in "Change" magazine between 1969 and 1999. Using the analogy of a museum gallery, the student portraits are grouped into five eras; each of which dominated the literature for approximately 10 years. The Gallery of Student Protest,…

A novel, liberal admissions procedure used for students over 25 at the University of New South Wales (Australia) is described and its effectiveness evaluated. Extensive interview and questionnaire data are reported on student motivation, expectation, and adjustment problems. Academic performance is shown to be consistently superior to traditional…

This issue of the IRCD Bulletin is comprised of papers focusing on procedures and policies relating to admission to colleges. The first article by Dr. Edmund W. Gordon, "Higher Education and the Challenge of Universal Access to Post-Secondary Education," discusses the democratizing and humanistic functions of colleges in arriving at new admission…

Students entering colleges under open-enrollment plans require special kinds of help from instructors of college reading and study skills programs. Such students often have poor scholastic records and only moderate interest in academic pursuits. They need highly individualized attention to the particular problems they experience with reading and…

Externally imposed enrollment limits and resultant reduced funding will effect the type of student recruited by community colleges. Should the non-traditional, high risk student be discouraged from enrolling, the consequences for educational as well as national social policy appear great. (LH)

Reviews college admissions policies as they may be affected by court decisions. Deals specifically with Bakke v. Regents of the University of California, Hupart v. Board of Higher Education of the City of New York, Griggs v. Duke Power Co., the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Washington v. Davis. (RT)

The importance of diagnostic testing for appropriate student placement at open door colleges is discussed, along with approaches to upgrade teacher skills. It is suggested that colleges typically select students who are skilled and motivated enough to acquire knowledge by the approaches currently offered, and that colleges thus act as screeners…

This response to criticisms of open admissions programs in U.S. postsecondary education addresses the following issues: that there are not enough jobs for graduates; that enrollments will decline anyway; and that expanding access to education is a myth that promises social mobility but only maintains social inequalities. (JMD)