Open admissions

{{Short description|College admissions policy in the United States}} {{For|similar terms with different meanings|Open enrollment (disambiguation)}} {{confuse|Open Admissions}} '''Open admissions''', or '''open enrollment''', is a type of unselective and noncompetitive college admissions process in the United States in which the only criterion for entrance is a high school diploma or a certificate of attendance or General Educational Development (GED) certificate.<ref name="petersons">[http://www.petersons.com/common/article.asp?id=979&path=ug.fas.advice&sponsor=1 Peterson's Guide: Glossary of terms]</ref>

==Definition== This form of "inclusive" admissions<ref name="carnegie">[http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/classifications/index.asp?key=796 Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching: Undergraduate Profile Technical Details]</ref> is used by many public junior colleges and community colleges<ref name="petersons"/> and differs from the selective admission policies of most private liberal arts colleges and research universities in the United States, which often take into account standardized test scores as well as other academic and character-related criteria.<ref name="carnegie"/>

==History== The open admissions concept was heavily promoted in the 1960s and 1970s as a way to reduce discrimination in college admissions and to promote education of the underprivileged. The first major application in the United States was at the City University of New York (CUNY) following protests. CUNY later applied the policy only to its two-year community colleges, as they are better equipped for remedial education.<ref name="Ref_1970">{{cite magazine|title=Education: Open Admissions: American Dream or Disaster?|date=19 Oct 1970|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,944161-5,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080228004703/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,944161-5,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 28, 2008|magazine=Time}}</ref>

While the United States and other nations in the Anglosphere have historically tended toward a selective model for university admissions, mainland European nations have tended toward open admissions. Pressure for a more selective admissions model has only arisen in some of these countries as late as the 1970s, largely owing to the higher per capita rate of university participation in countries with selective admissions at that time.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Webster|first=Mark|date=September 1971|title=Open Admissions: Oui ou Non?|journal=Change|volume=9|issue=3 |pages=16–19|doi=10.1080/00091383.1977.10569083 }}</ref>

== Controversy == In the late 1960s, CUNY's plans to introduce open admissions to its colleges by the fall of 1970 sparked controversy both in politics and academia. Critics of open admissions included Vice President Spiro Agnew and right-wing journalists Robert Novak and Irving Kristol,<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Karabel|first=Jerome|title=May, 1972|journal=Change|volume=4|pages=38–43|doi=10.1080/00091383.1972.10568149 }}</ref> while its supporters included noted American writing scholar Mina P. Shaughnessy.

The case for open admissions cites the movement of the U.S. population from primarily rural to primarily urban, the shifting microeconomics in the country from primarily goods-oriented to primarily services-oriented, and the country's rapid diversification of racial, ethnic, and class identities.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Shaughnessy|first=Mina P.|date=1973|title=Open Admissions and the Disadvantaged Teacher|journal=College Composition and Communication|volume=24|issue=5 |pages=401–404|doi=10.2307/357197 |jstor=357197 }}</ref> Other cases for open admissions focused on academia's role as a gatekeeper for privilege, characterizing open admissions as a driving force for upward social mobility for American families.<ref name=":0" />

Opponents of open admissions raise concerns about credentialism and educational inflation, stating that opening colleges to any applicant could potentially devalue the college diploma as an asset. They characterized the move to open admissions not as a genuine attempt at educational reform but as a maneuver of racial politics and the gross politicization of the educational process.<ref name=":0" /> Other, less prevalent criticisms include the idea that, through open admissions, CUNY was, whether purposefully or not, depriving private colleges of students through the combination of open admissions and less expensive tuition.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=K. T. H.|date=September 1970|title=Open Admissions: Unfair Competition?|journal=Change|volume=2|pages=17, 20|doi=10.1080/00091383.1970.10567892}}</ref>

A criticism of CUNY's particular open admissions model was that it would not effect sufficient change for the underprivileged. This was not an indictment of open admissions in itself but a prediction that open admissions might do nothing to an already present prestige gap between more selective and less selective schools.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Astin|first=Alexander W.|date=September 1971|title=Open Admissions: The Real Issue|journal=Science|volume=173|issue=4003 |pages=1197|doi=10.1126/science.173.4003.1197 |bibcode=1971Sci...173.1197A }}</ref>

==Graduation rates== The graduation rates of colleges are correlated with their admissions policies. Six years after beginning a four-year program, an average of 60% of students nationwide will have graduated. However, that rate varies from 89% at colleges that accept less than a quarter of applicants to less than 36% at those with an open admissions policy.<ref>{{cite web | url =https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=40 | title =What are the graduation rates for students obtaining a bachelor's degree? | date =May 2016 | website =Fast Facts | publisher =National Center for Education Statistics | access-date =1 November 2016 }}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Open Admissions}} Category:University and college admissions