THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 7, 1995 TAG: 9509070644
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long : 145 lines
The College of William and Mary enrolls the highest-scoring students among Virginia colleges, and Norfolk State University gets the lowest, says a state report released Wednesday.
William and Mary freshmen had an average SAT score of 1230 and an average high school grade-point average of 3.89, or almost straight As, in the fall of 1993. The University of Virginia placed second in SATs, with an 1195 average, but did not report the GPA figure.
Norfolk State freshmen, on the other hand, had an average SAT score of 669 and a grade-point average of 2.11, or slightly above a C. Old Dominion University ranked in the middle of the pack of state-supported four-year schools, with a 926 SAT average and 2.82 grade-point average.
The average SAT score for all test-takers across the state this year was 896.
For keeping students in college, William and Mary has the best record in Virginia, and NSU one of the worst, the report says.
At W&M, 92 percent of freshmen who started school in 1992 were still there two years later - the highest rate in the state. Two percent had transferred to another state school, and 6 percent were not enrolled anywhere in Virginia.
At Norfolk State, less than half the freshmen - 42 percent - were still in school two years after they started. Five percent had transferred, and 53 percent were not enrolled. Only Virginia State University had a lower retention rate, at 41 percent.
The statistics are the first in a series of ``indicators'' to be published by the State Council of Higher Education in the coming year.
Council officials said the statistics will help answer frequent questions from legislators and parents, but they stressed that the numbers released Wednesday do not reflect the quality of education at the schools.
``You can decide whether a graduation rate is good only in the context of the entering class,'' said Margaret A. Miller, associate director of the council.
``The best way to have a good graduation rate is to accept students with high SAT scores and have them live on campus. . . . Schools that are relatively unselective are likely to lose more students because some have turned out not to be ready for college, at least not now.''
The colleges should not be compared with one another, educators said, because they serve different niches. W&M and U.Va. are elite schools geared to teaching the most successful students; NSU, a historically black school, has touted its open-door policy as providing a second chance for low-income underachievers looking to better themselves.
``They have different missions, they deal with extremely different clienteles, and the results are predictably going to be very different,'' said Gordon K. Davies, director of the council. ``Does that mean we should be comfortable with a situation in which students do not progress satisfactorily? No, I don't think so.
``I don't find this enormously discouraging. It describes a current situation, and it's a situation (Norfolk State) . . . is working on, and it just shows there's more to be done.''
Harrison B. Wilson, the president of NSU, was unavailable Wednesday. He has defended the school's open admissions policy. But under prodding from the state, the university agreed in 1993 to begin requiring a C average from all high school students in 1997.
In his back-to-school speech to professors last month, Wilson also said the university is beefing up its counseling programs to ensure that more students stay until graduation. A previously released state study showed that only 22 percent of freshmen at NSU graduate within seven years, the lowest number among state-supported four-year schools. Wilson has promised to boost the figure to 30 percent by the next decade.
``The students are stopping in and out because of financial reasons,'' Jesse C. Lewis, vice president for academic affairs at NSU, said Thursday. ``Even with the financial aid we offer, they still cannot afford higher education.''
Wilson had said the university would quickly begin inching up its standards, but the state statistics show that last year Norfolk State admitted 99 percent of in-state applicants, the highest number in Virginia.
Miller, the associate director of the council, said she was not concerned. ``We feel they need four years to give high school students a message that this is going to change,'' she said.
On campus, several NSU students said Thursday that the school should remain relatively open.
``This policy gives a chance to the deprived African-American student who society has somewhat misjudged,'' senior Gary Bolden said. ``. . . Let's face the facts: Black Americans are constantly stereotyped as being inferior in education. We must be given the chance to remove this ugly premise.''
But LaShonda Joyner, a freshman, said all students would benefit if the university became more selective: ``Too many people are getting into Norfolk State with no intentions of learning. These people are people who came here just to hang out, not to get an education.''
At William and Mary, President Timothy J. Sullivan was upbeat about the numbers for his college: ``It's great news, but it's no surprise. I know we have wonderful students, and I think we provide a high-quality, personalized education. They stay and they finish.''
W&M students also basked in the fact that their numbers - from high SAT scores to low acceptance rates - generally surpassed those of U.Va., which is considered the state's flagship institution.
``I'm not terribly surprised,'' senior Dave Soles said. ``I took a class at U.Va. this summer. It wasn't as challenging as the classes here.''
Krisha Davis, a junior admitted to both schools, said, ``It confirms what I've always thought about William and Mary. I knew there was a reason why I didn't go to U.Va.''
The council, the state agency overseeing colleges, plans to release a handful of other statistics in the next year, on subjects ranging from the impact of colleges on economic development to the types of jobs graduates from each school get.
The council went over the numbers Thursday at a meeting of the State Commission on the Future of Higher Education, made up of educators, legislators and business leaders. The statistics also included tuition rates, numbers of graduate students, and racial and gender breakdowns.
The reactions of the commission members were relatively muted. They appeared to get most irate at the failure of some universities to report data.
Davies told the commission that his agency had the legal power to require schools to submit those numbers, but was still ``at the stage of cordial letter disagreeing.''
``Like the fighting in Bosnia,'' said Sen. Hunter B. Andrews, D-1st District. ``Get the artillery!'' MEMO: Campus correspondents Mike Hadley and Kia Morgan contributed to this
story. ILLUSTRATION: Graphics
FOR DETAILS
Anyone interested in a copy of the statistics should call the
State Council of Higher Education at (804) 225-2632.
STAFF
SAT SCORES
Average of first-time freshmen at four-year state-supported
colleges, fall 1993
SOURCE: State Council of Higher Education
TWO-YEAR DROPOUT RATES
Percentage of freshmen from fall 1992 who were still in school,
transferred to another Virginia school or were no longer enrolled in
the state in fall 1994.
SOURCE: State Council of Higher Education
[For complete graphics, please see microfilm]
KEYWORDS: STANDARDIZED TESTS SATS COLLEGES &
UNIVERSITIES VIRGINIA STATISTICS by CNB