Editorial: GPA plan not making the grade

Monday, Oct. 15, 2001 | 8:46 a.m.

Later this week the Board of Regents will consider a proposal that would boost the requirements for students seeking admission into UNLV or the University of Nevada, Reno. Currently both universities require a minimum 2.5 grade point average, but under the plan submitted to the Board of Regents, that minimum GPA would increase to 3.0 by the year 2005. UNLV administrators want the school to develop a reputation as a quality research institution, and those who support hiking the minimum GPA contend that this will accelerate them to meeting that goal, resulting in the best and the brightest attending the university.

Hiking the admissions requirements might result in a better crop of candidates, but this is a case where a theory runs headfirst into reality. There currently isn't a state college that might handle students whose grades would fall between the 2.5 and 3.0 GPA requirements. Some have suggested the proposed Henderson State College would take the students, but uncertain economic times ahead have cast doubt as to how soon the college might be prepared to handle a group this large. Besides, the new college was supposed to be an institution that would focus on turning out top-flight students who would become teachers, not as a fallback for those who couldn't gain entrance to UNLV.

While a GPA is a fairly good indicator of how a high school student will fare in college, it can also be misleading if other factors aren't taken into consideration, such as the student's background, how many hours he worked outside of school and the quality of teaching at the schools he attended. It's also possible that some of our better college teachers, even at UNLV, left high school with less than a 3.0 GPA.

UNLV has made some improvements over the past few years, but it's debatable whether the university honestly can say that it's ready to be the kind of research institution that lures only the best and the brightest. Hiking the minimum GPA seems to be a quick fix that won't solve the bigger issue, which is creating a university system that serves the needs of all the students seeking a higher education degree. The Board of Regents should reject this proposal.