Council discusses requirements for transfer students

GPA requirements for transfer students could be lowered.

By Joey Vergara

Published Aug. 29, 2006

Transfer student grade-point-average requirements, a new grading policy for students who drop or fail a class and a plan to grant early enrollment to inner-city students all were discussed at the MU Faculty Council meeting on Thursday.

Faculty Council Chairman Rex Campbell said one of the primary concerns for the Council this semester involves reports that a number of transfer students were denied acceptance to MU after the Faculty Council raised the GPA requirement.

"The GPA requirement for students coming in from other community colleges or other two-year colleges had long been 2.0," Campbell said. "The Faculty Council two years ago increased it to 2.5. The registrar's office and others are questioning that, saying that we're cutting out some students."

Campbell estimated nearly 200 students were denied admission into the university because of the GPA requirement.

Campbell said no decisions regarding GPA requirements were made at the meeting.

Discussion regarding new federal guidelines that require universities to report students who drop out of a class with the special grade "FN" also took place.

Previously, students who failed to attend class or dropped out early in the semester continued to receive federal aid. Under the new regulations, aid will be cut accordingly.

"One issue that is coming up is a grade for students who don't show up for class," said Frank Schmidt, MU representative to the System Intercampus Faculty Council. "The federal government requires us to have a grade for that because it can affect (financial aid)."

The council, which meets twice a month, also agreed to support Chancellor Brady Deaton's proposal for a program of early admission for children in the Kansas City area.

"We passed a resolution in support of the chancellor's initiative of very early admission to the university," Campbell said. "He proposed that some of the inner-city schools start working with people in the fourth grade, and if they continue to do well they would be automatically admitted to the university when they graduate high school."

Campbell said he is a supporter of the early admission plan.

Students interested in voicing their opinions to the Faculty Council are encouraged to attend the bi-monthly meetings, Chairman of Student Affairs Committee Michael Devaney said.

"We have a whole group of student organizations with which we interface," he said. "We've typically in the past had one member from the (Missouri Students Association) and the (Graduate Professional Council) attend our Student Affairs standing committee meetings."

Campbell said he hopes to involve more students in the Faculty Council's affairs throughout the academic year.

"We have not had sufficient, from my perspective, student voice," Campbell said. "We would like to have one or more students participating with us. That's always tough because of the turnover in students. It's a constant hassle."

The Faculty Council plans to hold an orientation for its new members to become acquainted with procedures and each other Thursday.

Campbell said the 3 p.m. meeting would feature a dinner for the council members and a speech by Lewis Diuguid, a writer for the Kansas City Star.