THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY 12234

 

TO:	The Honorable the Members of the Board of Regents
FROM:	Johanna Duncan-Poitier
COMMITTEE:	Higher Education and Professional Practice
TITLE OF ITEM:	Report on the CUNY Master Plan Amendment
DATE OF SUBMISSION:	March 4, 2005
PROPOSED HANDLING:	Discussion
RATIONALE FOR ITEM:	Pursuant to the Board of Regents December 2002 Resolution
STRATEGIC GOAL:	Goals 1, 2, 3 and 4
AUTHORIZATION(S):

 

SUMMARY:

 

On November 22, 1999, the Board of Regents approved, until December 31, 2002, an amendment to the master plan of The City University of New York (CUNY) authorizing CUNY to adopt new admission requirements for baccalaureate programs. At its December 2002 meeting, the Board of Regents approved, without a time limit, this amendment but directed both CUNY and the New York State Education Department (NYSED) to continue to monitor the impact of the approved change on students. 

 

The amendment requires that such applicants demonstrate readiness to undertake college level study by acceptable SAT or ACT scores, by acceptable scores on Regents exams in English and math, or by passing CUNY’s own battery of Freshman Skills Assessment Tests (FSATs), in addition to a high school diploma.  One effect of this change in admission requirements was to end the need for CUNY senior colleges to offer noncredit remedial courses during the regular academic year (except those four senior colleges that offer associate degree programs as well as baccalaureate programs). 

 

CUNY now offers noncredit remedial courses at senior colleges, principally during summer sessions, only for persons attempting to pass the FSATs.  Applicants for admission to CUNY community colleges are not required to meet the baccalaureate program standard, although they must be high school graduates. CUNY’s community colleges continue to offer noncredit remedial courses during the regular academic year for their students who are not ready to undertake credit-bearing courses.

 

 

          With respect to the monitoring of the CUNY master plan amendment, the Regents identified the following factors:

 

1.                     Student access and success, to determine whether any particular populations of students are being disadvantaged by the policy, including Search for Evaluation, Education and Knowledge (SEEK) and ESL students;

 

2.                     Transfer rates from associate degree to baccalaureate degree programs, especially between community and senior colleges, to determine whether students are able to make the transition successfully; and

 

3.                      The outcomes of each of the support programs established to assist students to pass the basic skills assessments, including Summer Immersion, Prelude to Success, Bridge to College, College Now, and CUNY Language Immersion Program (CLIP).       

 

Presented in this report is a summary of findings resulting from the ongoing monitoring. Data for this report was provided by CUNY’s Office of Institutional Research and Assessment.

 

Analysis of data results in the following findings:

 

·        After the implementation of the new admission policy, there was an overall increase in the number of students enrolled in baccalaureate programs for all ethnic/racial groups. However, there has been a small drop in the overall percentage of Black and Hispanic students each year since the new admission policy went into effect.

 

·        After the implementation of the new admission policy, the one-year retention rate for both regularly admitted and SEEK full-time students enrolled in CUNY baccalaureate programs remained over 80%.

   

·        The percentage of ESL student applicants that enrolled in baccalaureate programs went from 47.6% in 1999 to 47.1% in 2003, less than a one percent change since the new admission policy went into effect. Similarly, the SEEK program continued to admit a large majority of students with a score below a B average and from underrepresented populations.

 

·        Data reflects an increase in transferability since the implementation of the master plan amendment.  More than one third of students with an associate degree transferred to CUNY baccalaureate programs within one year of graduation and that rate is on the rise.

 

·        Findings of data suggest that support programs, especially the Prelude to Success Program, CLIP, and College Now, are continuing to help students from different ethnic backgrounds succeed academically. 

 

The Department will ask CUNY to continue to monitor the impact of the change on students and to make the data identified in the report available to SED annually.  

 

Attachment

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On November 22, 1999, the Board of Regents approved, until December 31, 2002, an amendment to the master plan of The City University of New York (CUNY) authorizing CUNY to adopt new admission requirements for baccalaureate programs. At its December 2002 meeting, the Board of Regents approved, without a time limit, this amendment but directed both CUNY and the New York State Education Department (NYSED) to continue to monitor the impact of the change on students. 

 

The amendment requires that such applicants demonstrate readiness to undertake college level study by acceptable SAT or ACT scores, by acceptable scores on Regents exams in English and math, or by passing CUNY’s own battery of Freshman Skills Assessment Tests (FSATs), in addition to a high school diploma.  One effect of this change in admission requirements was to end the need for CUNY senior colleges to offer noncredit remedial courses during the regular academic year (except those four senior colleges that offer associate degree programs as well as baccalaureate programs). 

 

CUNY now offers noncredit remedial courses at senior colleges, principally during summer sessions, only for persons attempting to pass the FSATs.  Applicants for admission to CUNY community colleges are not required to meet the baccalaureate program standard, although they must be high school graduates. CUNY’s community colleges continue to offer noncredit remedial courses during the regular academic year for their students who are not ready to undertake credit-bearing courses.

 

          With respect to the monitoring of the CUNY master plan amendment, the Regents identified the following factors:

 

4.                     Student access and success, to determine whether any particular populations of students are being disadvantaged by the policy, including Search for Evaluation, Education and Knowledge (SEEK) and ESL students;

 

5.                     Transfer rates from associate degree to baccalaureate degree programs, especially between community and senior colleges, to determine whether students are able to make the transition successfully; and

 

6.                      The outcomes of each of the support programs established to assist students to pass the basic skills assessments, including Summer Immersion, Prelude to Success, Bridge to College, College Now, and CUNY Language Immersion Program (CLIP).       

 

Presented in this report is a summary of findings for the ongoing monitoring. Data for this report was provided by CUNY’s Office of Institutional Research and Assessment.

Summary of Findings

 

Student Access and Success

 

Enrollment by Ethnicity

 

·        When comparing enrollment by ethnicity in 2002-2003 with that of 1999-2000, there exists a similar pattern. A larger representative sample of Asian/Pacific Islander and White students and a smaller representative sample of Black and Hispanic students from New York City (NYC) public high schools were enrolled in CUNY baccalaureate programs both in 1999-2000 and 2002-2003. (Table 1)

  

·        Since the implementation of the master plan amendment, there was an overall increase in the number of students enrolled in baccalaureate programs for all ethnic/racial groups. When examining freshman enrollment in baccalaureate programs by race/ethnicity before and after the implementation of the new admission policy (1999-2004), a slightly lower percentage of Black students (3.2%) were enrolled after the change of the admission policy, while Asian student enrollment increased (3.9%).  Hispanic (0.6%) and White (0.1%) student enrollment decreased less than one percent. (Tables 2 and 3)

 

·        After implementing the two-stage admission process (i.e., conditional admission based on the college admission standards and demonstration of basic skill proficiency before the fall freshman semester), the acceptance rate into CUNY’s baccalaureate programs decreased from 59.0 percent to 57.8 percent. The acceptance rate dropped for Black, Hispanic, and White students. (Table 4) 

 

Academic Performance

 

·        Before the implementation of the new admission policy for baccalaureate programs, there was a disparity in the percent of students by race/ethnicity who were eligible for admission (Asian - 66.8%, White - 71.1% as compared to Black - 49.2% and Hispanic - 53.3%).  In 2003, this disparity increased for Black students by 3.7%, Hispanic students by 2.5% and 1.2% for White students. (Table 4)

 

·        After the implementation of the new admission policy, the one-year retention rate for both regularly admitted and SEEK full-time students enrolled in CUNY baccalaureate programs remained over 80 percent.  (Table 5)

 

Impact on ESL Students

 

·        The percent of non-English speakers who were eligible for admission to baccalaureate programs and the percent of those students enrolling in CUNY in 1999 and 2004 were virtually identical, a less than one percent difference in both instances. (Table 6)  

·        When using native language not being English and Languages other than English spoken at home as indicators of ESL students, this population accounted for approximately 50 percent of first-time freshmen enrollment in senior colleges for the period 1995-2003. Over this same time period, there has been a 9 percent reduction in the enrollment of foreign-born students. (Table 7) 

 

Impact on SEEK Students

 

·        SEEK students in baccalaureate programs have shown improvement in their first term grade point average (GPA) from 2.29 in 2000 to 2.46 in 2003. (Table 8)

 

·        After the change in the new admission policy, the SEEK program continued to admit a majority of students (over 75 percent) with a college admission average below a B average. However, there was a significant shift in the college admission average of students being admitted to the SEEK program in 1998-1999 prior to the implementation of the new admission policy. Between 1999-2000 (immediately prior to the implementation of the new admission standards) and 2003-2004, an additional 2.9% of students with a college admission average between 80 and 100 were admitted into the SEEK program. (Table 9)

 

·        After the implementation of the new admission policy, a majority (over two thirds) of students being served by the SEEK program continued to be from the underrepresented populations. Hispanic students (44.3%) were the largest population enrolled in the SEEK program, followed by Black students (24.7%), Asian/Pacific Islander students 21.7% and White students 9.2%. SEEK students enrolled in associate degree programs follow similar patterns. (Table 10)

     

·        With the implementation of the change in CUNY’s admission requirements for baccalaureate programs, there does not appear to be any large change in the one-year retention rate for SEEK/College Discovery students by race/ethnicity. Asian and White students continue to have (2000-2003) a higher one-year retention rate as compared to Black and Hispanic students by approximately 5-6%. For students in associate degree programs, the gap is wider. However, the retention rate in baccalaureate programs during this time period has gone up for Black students by 3.8% and for Hispanic students by 1%.  (Table 11)

    

Transferability

 

Transfer Rate: Between 1999-2004, the total number of transfer students increased by 21.6% overall (31% for Hispanic students, 26% for Asian students, 20% for Black students and 15% for White students).  Since 1998-99, more than one third of students with associate degrees transferred to the CUNY baccalaureate programs within one year of graduation with annual increases each year.  Hispanic and White students had the greatest increase in percentage transferring (5.6% and 10.1% increase rate respectively). Black and Asian student transfer rates have remained fairly constant over the time period. (Tables 12 and 13)

Outcomes of Support Programs

 

Summer Immersion Program:  The Summer Immersion Program is a remedial program offered each summer to assist students who have been provisionally accepted into baccalaureate programs attain proficiency in all basic skill areas prior to the commencement of the freshman fall semester. Between 2000 and 2003, the pass rate on all basic skills assessment tests for Summer Immersion participants declined by 4.6%. The magnitude of the decline was greatest for White students (18.5%) and least for Hispanic students (0.9%). For Black and Asian students, the decline in pass rate was 3.8 and 3.6 percentage points, respectively.  This program has enrolled between 2,641 and 2,874 students per year.  (Table 15)

 

Prelude to Success Program: Prelude to Success is a program for students who have applied to a baccalaureate program but have not yet demonstrated proficiency in all basic skill areas but are close to meeting these standards. These students begin their associate degree program at a senior college and transition into the baccalaureate program once proficiency is attained. The majority of students in the Prelude to Success Program passed the Basic Skills Competency (77% over three years, 2001-2003) although the percentage of students passing has decreased by 9.8%. Among the participants, White and Asian students received a higher pass rate than Black and Hispanic students. The number of students in the Prelude to Success Program has declined from 419 in 2001 to 358 in 2003. (Table 16)

      

CUNY Language Immersion Program (CLIP): The CUNY Language Immersion Program offers students who have been admitted to a CUNY college the opportunity to spend more time learning English in an academic environment before formally enrolling in college courses. Data indicates that CLIP improved students’ language skills. Based on the results of students’ score gains measured by different assessment methods (CLIP essay, ACT essay, Michigan Test, and other tests), over three quarters of students performed better in post-test than in pre-test. In addition, the University has tracked a cohort of 4,008 students who were last enrolled in CLIP during 2000 or 2001. The result indicated that 61.3% (2,455) of this group enrolled at CUNY by March 2004. Among them, 11.9% (291) were enrolled in baccalaureate programs and 88.1% (2,164) were enrolled in associate programs. Finally, data suggests the decline in ESL course enrollments might be attributed to the growth in CLIP.  (Table 17)

       

College Now Program: The College Now Program is a collaboration between CUNY and the New York City Public School System. The overall goal is to ensure that students meet the requirements for high school graduation and that all those who wish to pursue postsecondary education are prepared to do so.  For the fall 2002 cohort for admission into baccalaureate programs, 6,280 of the applicants participated in College Now, 71.9% were admitted to a baccalaureate program, 63.6% were skills proficient by the end of the summer, and 33.9 % enrolled in baccalaureate programs.  In comparison, of the 13,924 applicants who had not participated in College Now, 60.8 were admitted to a baccalaureate program, 50.8% were skills proficient by the end of the summer, and 25.3% enrolled in a baccalaureate program. In addition, CUNY reported that 30% of all new public high school graduates who entered CUNY in the fall of 2002 participated in College Now. For the fall 2003 entering class, the proportion was about 32%. For 2002-2003, overall, 81% of students who registered in the College Now program earned a C or better in college coursework. Among the participants, a higher percentage of White (87%) and Asian (85%) students were academically successful than were Black (78%) and Hispanic (77%) students. (Tables 18 and 19)

 

The Department will ask CUNY to continue to monitor the impact of the change on students and to make the data identified in the report available to SED annually.   

 

Table of Contents

 

 

                                                                                                                   Page

 

Section I:  Student Access and Success.............................................................. 1

 

Section II: Transferability.................................................................................. 12

 

Section III: Outcomes of Student Support Programs ........................................... 15..........................................................................................................................

 

 

 

Finding: When comparing enrollment by ethnicity in 2002-2003 with that of 1999-2000, a similar pattern exists. A larger representative sample of Asian/Pacific Islander and White students and a smaller representative sample of Black and Hispanic students from New York City (NYC) public high schools were enrolled in CUNY baccalaureate programs both in 1999-2000 and 2002-2003.   

 

Table 1

Trends in New York City Public High School 12^th Grade Enrollment

and CUNY First-time Freshmen Enrollment

 

 

·        Prior to the change in admission policy, 5.5% more Asian students and 6.7% more White students were enrolled in CUNY baccalaureate programs than in New York City public high schools. After the change of the admission policy, the enrollment of Asian students in baccalaureate programs was 7.4% higher than in public high schools and the percentage of White students was 6.0% higher.

    

·        For Black students, during the academic year 1999-2000, the enrollment in CUNY baccalaureate programs was 9% fewer than NYC public high school 12^th graders. During academic year 2002-2003, 10.3% fewer Black students were enrolled in baccalaureate programs than in public high schools, an increase of 1.3%.

     

·        Prior to the change of the admission policy, 2.9% fewer Hispanic students were enrolled in CUNY baccalaureate degree programs than in NYC public high schools. This same pattern for Hispanic students existed in 2002-03. 

Finding: Since the implementation of the master plan amendment, there was an overall increase in student enrollment in baccalaureate programs. When examining freshman enrollment in baccalaureate programs by race/ethnicity before and after the implementation of the new admission policy (1999-2004), a slightly lower percentage of Black students (3.2%) were enrolled after the change of the admission policy, while Asian student enrollment increased (3.9%).  Hispanic (0.6%) and White (0.1%) student enrollment decreased less than one percent.

 

Table 2A

Trends in First-Time Freshmen Enrollment in Baccalaureate Programs by Race/Ethnicity

 

	American Indian          %	Asian            %	Black           %	Hispanic       %	White           %	Total N
1992	.2	17.2	26.9	26.1	29.6	9,300
1993	.2	17.5	25.5	27.1	29.8	9,801
1994	.08	17.5	25.0	28.0	29.5	10,312
1995	.2	17.6	24.0	25.8	32.4	8,929
1996	.08	17.9	24.7	26.8	30.7	8,854
1997	.1	17.7	24.5	27.1	30.7	9,323
1998	.1	17.9	23.5	27.6	31.0	8,175
1999	.1	17.8	23.2	26.4	32.4	8,448
2000	.1	18.6	22.5	25.5	33.3	8,618
2001	.09	20.3	21.7	23.3	34.7	9,187
2002	.2	20.3	21.2	23.0	35.3	9,334
2003	.1	20.1	20.5	24.7	34.7	10,208
2004	.2	21.7	20.0	25.8	32.3	10,863

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

	Signifies the years before and after the implementation of the new admission policy for baccalaureate programs.

Finding: CUNY’s enrollment of first-time, full-time freshmen in baccalaureate programs increased systemwide since 1999 in the number of students in all ethnic/racial groups.

 

Table 3
Trends in First-time Freshman Enrollment in Baccalaureate Programs by Race/Ethnicity
Fall Term	American Indian/Native Alaskan	Asian/Pacific Islander	Black	Hispanic	White	Total
	N	N	N	N	N	N
1992	16	1,596	2,506	2,427	2,755	9,300
1993	15	1,711	2,499	2,660	2,916	9,801
1994	8	1,802	2,578	2,884	3,040	10,312
1995	15	1,575	2,139	2,307	2,893	8,929
1996	6	1,573	2,188	2,369	2,718	8,854
1997	12	1,648	2,281	2,523	2,859	9,323
1998	11	1,462	1,918	2,253	2,531	8,175
1999	12	1,505	1,957	2,233	2,741	8,448
2000	9	1,600	1,942	2,200	2,867	8,618
2001	8	1,863	1,990	2,140	3,186	9,187
2002	19	1,897	1,983	2,144	3,291	9,334
2003	11	2,050	2,089	2,520	3,538	10,208
2004	21	2,358	2,169	2,801	3,514	10,863

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

	Signifies the years before and after the implementation of the new admission policy for baccalaureate programs.

 

 

Finding: Before the implementation of the new admission policy for baccalaureate programs, there was a disparity in the percent of students by race/ethnicity who were eligible for admission (Asian - 66.8%, White - 71.1% as compared to Black - 49.2% and Hispanic - 53.3%).  In 2003, this disparity increased for Black students by 3.7% and Hispanic students by 2.5%.

 

Table 4
Applicants and Admits to CUNY Baccalaureate Program, by Race/Ethnicity*
Fall Term		American Indian	Asian	Black	Hispanic	White	Not Known	Total
1999	Applicants	60	4,578	6,925	7,696	6,938	4,140	30,337
	Provisional	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
	Admitted (Eligible)**	17	3,058	3,406	4,103	4,930	2,374	17,888
	%	28.3	66.8	49.2	53.3	71.1	57.3	59.0
2001	Applicants	65	5,228	7,631	8,480	7,458	5,475	34,337
	Provisional	35	3,954	4,565	5,449	5,751	3,765	23,519
	Admitted (Eligible)**	24	3,384	3,446	4,099	4,925	3,152	19,030
	%	36.9	64.7	45.2	48.3	66.0	57.6	55.4
2002	Applicants	70	5,518	8,064	8,893	8,044	5,759	36,348
	Provisional	44	4,165	4,858	5,817	6,270	3,992	25,146
	Admitted (Eligible)**	32	3,594	3,672	4,195	5,444	3,333	20,270
	%	45.7	65.1	45.5	47.2	67.7	57.9	55.8
2003	Applicants	61	5,666	8,432	9,196	8,172	7,161	38,688
	Provisional	31	4,372	5,017	6,059	6,445	5,030	26,954
	Admitted (Eligible)**	24	3,887	3,840	4,668	5,716	4,224	22,359
	%	39.3	68.6	45.5	50.8	69.9	59.0	57.8

 

*CUNY’s standard application form allows the candidate to apply to as many as six programs or colleges and to rank them in order of preference. Under the University’s multiple admission policy, which was introduced in fall 2001, a candidate may be admitted to three choices, but no more. Once this limit has been reached, the candidate is not evaluated for additional choices. This analysis takes this multiple admission process fully into account.

 

**Eligible means total eligible for baccalaureate program through unconditionally admitted (ESL or SEEK Exempt, Exempt based on SAT/Regents Scores, passed Basic Skills Proficiency prior to July 1) as of July 1 of the academic year and meeting basic skills proficiency during summer.

Finding: After the implementation of the new admission policy, the one-year retention rate for both regularly admitted and SEEK full-time students enrolled in CUNY baccalaureate programs remained over 80%.     

 

Table 5*A

One-year Retention Rate of Regularly-Admitted and SEEK,

Full-time, First-time Freshmen Baccalaureate Programs

     

 

*CUNY’s retention rates are system rates. They measure retention from freshman to sophomore year anywhere within the CUNY system, not necessarily at the same institution. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

	Signifies the years before and after the implementation of the new admission policy for baccalaureate programs.

Finding: The percent of non-English speakers who were both eligible for admission to baccalaureate programs and were the percent of those students enrolling in CUNY in 1999 and 2004 were virtually identical, a less than one percent difference in both instances.

 

Table 6
Trends in Application, Acceptance and Enrollment of First-time ESL Students in CUNY Baccalaureate Programs
		Number of Applicants to Baccalaureate Programs		Percent of Applicants Eligible for Admission to a Baccalaureate Program*	Percent of Eligible Students Enrolled in a Baccalaureate Program**
		N	%	%	%
Fall 1999	English	13,254	(43.7)	62.4	41.2
	Not English	12,631	(41.6)	57.8	47.6
	Unknown	4,452	(14.7)	52.0	53.3
	Total	30,337	(100.0)	59.0	45.4
Fall 2001	English	14,538	(42.3)	59.2	43.0
	Not English	14,069	(41.0)	54.4	48.3
	Unknown	5,730	(16.7)	48.3	49.0
	Total	34,337	(100.0)	55.4	46.0
Fall 2002	English	16,022	(44.1)	59.7	40.2
	Not English	14,330	(39.4)	54.6	46.2
	Unknown	5,996	(16.5)	48.1	46.2
	Total	36,348	(100.0)	55.8	43.4
Fall 2003	English	18,268	(100.0)	58.3	38.7
	Not English	15,502	(84.9)	57.0	47.1
	Unknown	4,918	(26.9)	58.5	44.7
	Total	38,688	(211.8)	57.8	42.8
*For Fall 2001, 2002 and 2003, eligible students are those who met the admission criteria of a bachelor's program and were skills proficient (or exempt).
**Excludes first-time freshmen enrolled in a baccalaureate program at Medgar Evers, NYCCT and Staten Island; these students were not counted as applicants because applications and admissions for baccalaureate programs cannot be distinguished from applications and admissions for associate programs at these three comprehensive colleges.

     

·        In 1999, the year before the new policy was implemented, 62.2% of native English speaking applicants were admitted. Among those admitted, 41.2% were subsequently enrolled at CUNY. Non-native English speakers were admitted at a slightly lower rate (57.8%), but were more likely to enroll at CUNY (47.6%). 

 

·        Compared to candidates whose first language is English, non-native English speakers were slightly less likely to be admitted, but somewhat more likely to enroll at CUNY. A similar pattern exists for each year from 2001 through 2003, after the implementation of the admission policy.

Finding: When using Native Languages not being English and Languages Other than English spoken at Home as indicators of ESL students, this population remained stable for first-time freshmen enrollment in baccalaureate programs for the period 1995-2003.Over this time period, there has been a 9% reduction in the enrollment of foreign born students. 

 

Table 7
Trends in Alternative Indicators of ESL Status: First-time Freshmen Enrolled in Baccalaureate Programs
	Native Language is Not English*	Language Other than English Spoken at Home**	Foreign Born**	More Comfortable in Language other than English**	Enrolled in an ESL Course	Total
	%	%	%	%	%	N
1995	51.9	60.8	50.8	20.0	18.4	8,925
1996	51.0	60.6	50.2	16.0	13.9	8,853
1997	51.2	61.7	49.9	14.3	13.0	9,322
1998	48.5	59.8	46.7	10.9	8.1	8,175
1999	49.7	60.0	43.5	9.0	7.5	8,448
2000	50.2	60.1	44.2	9.0	4.6	8,619
2001	49.0	60.1	42.4	9.3	3.9	9,188
2002	47.3	59.9	41.5	7.6	3.9	9,334
2003	49.0	61.5	41.8	7.3	3.9	10,208
*Percentages are based on cases with non-missing data. All applicants to CUNY are asked to write their native language on a blank line on the application form. Freshmen who supplied a language other than English are counted in this column.
**Percentages are based on cases with non-missing data.

 

Although a similar percentage of students reported to be ESL students in 2003 than in 1995, the percentage of students enrolled in ESL course decreased from 18.4% in 1995 to 3.9% in 2003, which may be explained by less than 8% of students reported to be more comfortable in Languages other than English for 2003 as compared to 20% in 1995. 

 

 

 

 

	Signifies the years before and after the implementation of the new admission policy for baccalaureate programs.

Findings: SEEK students in baccalaureate programs have shown improvement in their first term grade point average (GPA) from 2.29 in 2000 to 2.46 in 2003.

 

 

Table 8
First-term GPA of SEEK First-time Freshmen in Bachelor's Programs
	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
N	1,612	1,473	1,702	1,747	1,445	1,454	1,684
GPA/Mean	2.20	2.36	2.31	2.29	2.42	2.40	2.46

 

Section 6452 of the Education Law defines the general requirements for participation in the Seek Program, i.e., students with a high school diploma or its equivalent, potential for success in college and are economically and educationally disadvantaged. The Law further directs CUNY to define specific eligibility requirements for the programs which are listed below:

A student must meet all of the following criteria in order to be considered for admission to the SEEK or College Discovery (CD) program:

·        be a high school graduate or have a New York State approved General Equivalency Diploma or its equivalent; and

·        have not previously attended a college or university, except in the case of students enrolled in the State University of New York’s Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), or the independent colleges’ Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP); and

·        be a resident of New York State for SEEK admission or a resident of New York City for CD admission; and

·        have an admissions index score that is below the cut point for regular admission to a particular senior college (for SEEK admission) or have a college admission average of less than 80 percent for admission to a community college CD; and

·        have a family income and other available financial resources fall within guidelines established by New York State; and

·        attend a pre-freshman summer session if he/she does not satisfy the University criteria on one or more of the University Skills Assessment Tests in Reading, Writing, or Mathematics.

 

 

	Signifies the years before and after the implementation of the new admission policy for baccalaureate programs.

Finding: After the change in the new admission policy, the SEEK program continued to admit a majority of students (over 75%) with a College Admission Average (CAA) below B average. However, there was a significant shift in the CAA of students being admitted to the SEEK program in 1998-1999 prior to the implementation of the new admission policy. Between 1999-2000 (immediately prior to the implementation of the new admission standards) and 2003-2004, an additional 2.9% of students with a college admission average between 80 and 100 were admitted into the SEEK program.

Table 9
College Admission Average* of SEEK First-time Freshmen: 1995-96 to 2003-04
College Admission Average	1995-96	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99	1999-00	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Bachelor's Program
80-100	6.5	4.9	2.0	25.7	24.6	19.7	22.2	23.7	21.7
70-79	70.5	88.3	88.4	71.9	72.5	70.8	69.0	62.7	63.5
60-69	10.3	4.2	7.1	1.3	0.9	8.4	6.3	10.3	11.6
Below 60	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.0
GED	12.6	2.6	2.6	1.1	2.0	1.2	2.5	3.2	3.2
Total Bachelor's	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Associate Programs
80-100	1.4	2.0	3.4	4.8	1.4	2.9	6.9	3.9	4.3
70-79	75.7	61.9	57.2	60.3	58.8	57.3	52.0	58.7	54.6
60-69	8.4	22.6	30.7	25.7	29.0	26.9	28.7	26.2	30.5
Below 60	0.3	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.4	0.0	0.0	0.2
GED	14.2	13.2	8.7	9.3	10.8	12.6	12.4	11.1	10.5
Total Associate	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Total
80-100	4.7	4.0	2.3	20.3	18.9	15.8	18.0	18.3	17.6
70-79	72.4	80.2	80.7	68.9	69.1	67.6	64.4	61.6	61.4
60-69	9.6	9.9	12.9	7.5	7.8	12.6	12.4	14.6	16.1
Below 60	0.2	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.0
GED	13.2	5.9	4.1	3.2	4.2	3.8	5.2	5.4	4.9
Total SEEK	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0

 

	Signifies the years before and after the implementation of the new admission policy for baccalaureate programs.

 

 Finding: After the implementation of the new admission policy, a majority (over two thirds) of students in baccalaureate programs being served by the SEEK program continued to be the underrepresented populations. Hispanic students (44.3%) were the largest population enrolled in the SEEK program, followed by Black students (24.7%), Asian/Pacific Islander students (21.7%) and White students (9.2%). SEEK students enrolled in associate degree programs follow similar patterns. 

   

	Table 10
	Racial/Ethnic Composition of SEEK First-time Freshmen Fall 1992-2004
	Fall Term	American Indian	Asian/Pacific Islander	Black	Hispanic	White	Total
		%	%	%	%	%	N
Bachelor's	1992	0.2	15.0	32.4	43.5	8.8	2,171
	1993	0.3	15.5	31.5	42.4	10.3	1,970
	1994	0.0	14.5	31.0	42.8	11.8	2,024
	1995	0.2	10.0	34.5	45.9	9.5	1,204
	1996	0.2	13.7	32.0	43.0	11.1	1,149
	1997	0.1	14.1	28.6	45.4	11.8	1,714
	1998	0.3	20.4	21.3	45.9	12.1	1,535
	1999	0.1	14.9	24.9	47.7	12.4	1,762
	2000	0.1	18.6	23.9	42.8	14.7	1,789
	2001	0.3	19.9	23.8	45.5	10.5	1,482
	2002	0.2	21.1	26.8	40.7	11.2	1,479
	2003	0.1	19.8	25.2	42.3	12.7	1,715
	2004	0.0	21.7	24.7	44.3	9.2	1,895
Associate	1992	0.4	6.1	54.6	27.2	11.7	445
	1993	0.0	5.4	43.1	35.6	15.9	464
	1994	0.4	9.3	46.6	29.5	14.2	549
	1995	0.4	12.9	40.4	32.4	13.9	676
	1996	0.0	9.1	43.1	31.0	16.8	529
	1997	0.2	12.8	42.8	29.7	14.5	579
	1998	0.6	16.7	37.5	32.4	12.9	528
	1999	0.0	13.3	45.5	31.8	9.4	572
	2000	0.0	12.8	39.9	34.6	12.8	547
	2001	0.2	18.0	42.6	29.1	10.0	549
	2002	0.2	16.3	39.1	34.7	9.7	527
	2003	0.0	16.0	41.1	31.9	11.0	518
	2004	0.3	14.3	36.4	35.4	13.5	615

 

 

	Signifies the years before and after the implementation of the new admission policy for baccalaureate programs.

Finding: With the implementation of the change in CUNY’s admission requirements for baccalaureate programs, there does not appear to be any large change in the one-year retention rate for SEEK/College Discovery students by race/ethnicity. Asian and White students continue to have (2000-2003) a higher one-year retention rate as compared to Black and Hispanic students by approximately 5-6%.  For students in associate degree programs, the gap is wider. However, the retention rate for baccalaureate programs during this time period has gone up for Black students by 3.8% and for Hispanic students by 1%.

 

Table 11
One-Year Retention Rate of SEEK/College Discovery Full-time, First-time Freshmen by Race/Ethnicity
	American Indian/ Native Alaskan		Asian/ Pacific Islander		Black		Hispanic		White		Total
	Cohort	Still Enrolled	Cohort	Still Enrolled	Cohort	Still Enrolled	Cohort	Still Enrolled	Cohort	Still Enrolled	Cohort	Still Enrolled
	N	%	N	%	N	%	N	%	N	%	N	%
Bachelor's Programs
Fall 1999	2	50.0	252	84.5	430	74.9	826	76.8	204	83.3	1,714	78.2
Fall 2000	1	100.0	331	85.2	424	73.1	760	75.5	261	84.7	1,777	78.1
Fall 2001	4	100.0	293	85.3	351	79.5	673	75.9	155	90.3	1,476	80.2
Fall 2002	3	66.7	311	87.5	395	78.5	599	79.5	162	90.7	1,470	82.1
Fall 2003	1	100.0	338	83.4	432	78.7	724	77.8	218	84.9	1,713	80.0
Associate Programs
Fall 1999	3	66.7	224	76.8	655	66.4	782	67.3	220	69.1	1,884	68.3
Fall 2000	--	--	167	74.3	509	68.8	750	70.3	172	77.9	1,598	71.0
Fall 2001	2	50.0	203	81.8	435	71.3	614	68.9	133	83.5	1,387	72.9
Fall 2002	3	33.3	189	81.5	468	67.3	578	72.5	153	79.7	1,391	72.7
Fall 2003	3	66.7	174	78.7	446	71.7	594	68.2	136	82.4	1,353	72.1