The Council on Postsecondary Education voted to amend administrative regulation 13 KAR 2:020, which sets minimum requirements for admission and course placement standards at state-supported colleges and universities.
With the amended policy, traditional high school students would need a high school GPA of 2.5 on a 4.0 scale to meet minimum admission requirements to enter a public four-year university.
Students with a GPA between 2.0 to 2.49 could still be admitted to a public four-year university if they sign a learning contract with the campus specifying the advising, mentoring, tutoring and support services expectations for both the student and the campus.
The amendment also mandates the implementation of the corequisite model for students needing remediation in core content areas. A corequisite course is a credit-bearing course that includes enhanced academic supports, such as additional hours of instruction, tutoring, mentoring or advising.
Moving toward the corequisite model of remediation will assist students in progressing to a degree more quickly outside the traditional developmental education model, which is often more costly and ineffective in progressing students toward degree completion.
Council President Bob King said, “Today’s action represents a major policy milestone that will increase student success for literally thousands of students over time. We are extremely grateful to all our campus presidents and chief academic officers for their shared commitment to help more students persist and graduate.”
Other minimum requirements for college admission remain unchanged and include: meeting the Kentucky Minimum High School Graduation Requirements; meeting the precollege curriculum requirements; and taking the established college admission or academic readiness assessments established by the Kentucky Department of Education.
The amendment now moves through the legislative regulatory review process and requires adoption by the Administrative Regulation Review Subcommittee and the Interim Joint Committee on Education. If adopted, the amendment would take effect for the 2019-20 academic year.
In other business, CPE approved the campus proposals for 2018-19 tuition and mandatory fees at the state’s colleges and universities. All proposals complied with the Council’s two-year tuition and mandatory fee ceilings for in-state undergraduates established at the April 27 meeting.
Approved tuition and mandatory fee increases for in-state undergraduates include:
- Eastern Kentucky University--0.0 percent
- Kentucky State University—3.9 percent
- Morehead State University—0.0 percent
- Murray State University—3.0 percent
- Northern Kentucky University--3.1 percent
- University of Kentucky—2.5 percent
- University of Louisville—3.5 percent
- Western Kentucky University--4.0 percent
- Kentucky Community and Technical College System—4.3 percent
The new tuition dollars will help offset a net reduction of $25.6 million in state funding in 2018-19 and a $31.8 million increase in campus fixed costs for the coming year.
In other action, the Council approved three asset preservation fee exemption requests to help ensure asset preservation and renovation of postsecondary facilities for instructional and administrative purposes.
For Eastern Kentucky University, the Council approved a fee exemption request at $10 per credit hour with a cap at 30 credit hours or $300 annually, pending approval of EKU’s Board of Regents
The Council approved Kentucky State University’s fee exemption request at $10 per credit hour, capped at 30 credit hours or $300 annually. For Morehead State University, the Council approved a fee exemption request at $5 per credit hour, capped at 12 credit hours or $120 annually.
After factoring in tuition freezes at Eastern Kentucky University and Morehead State University next year and the three asset preservation fee exemptions, the adopted tuition and mandatory fee increases will average 3.6 percent, the third lowest system average rate of increase in 17 years.
The asset preservation fees, which are excluded from the tuition and mandatory fee ceilings at each campus, are restricted funds for approved Education and General asset preservations projects only.
In other business, the Council:
- Authorized a KCTCS request for a $2 million roof replacement, funded with agency bonds, at Technical Campus Building B at the Jefferson Community and Technical College.
- Approved five new academic programs, including a Bachelor of Science in Digital Forensics and Cybersecurity at Eastern Kentucky University and four programs at the University of Kentucky--Doctor of Philosophy in Forest and Natural Resource Science, Master of Arts in Teaching Secondary STEM Education, Master of Fine Arts in Curatorial Studies, and Master of Science in Urban and Environmental Design.
- Adopted a tentative CPE meeting calendar through June 2019 with business meetings set Feb. 22, April 26 and June 28.
- Presented a resolution honoring and commending Bob King, president of the CPE, for nearly a decade of service. Resolutions were also issued to Gerald St. Amand, interim president of Northern Kentucky University and Gregory Postel, interim president of the University of Louisville.
- Appointed student member Sebastian Torres to the CPE Presidential Search Committee.
The Council heard the following reports: annual briefing from the Association of Independent Kentucky Colleges and Universities, an update from the Kentucky Workforce Innovation Board, Kentucky Skills U, CPE President’s report, Commissioner of Education report, Committee on Equal Opportunities and CPE Presidential Search committee.
The Council’s next meeting is set Sept. 20-21.
Meeting materials are available at: https://v3.boardbook.org/Public/PublicAgenda.aspx?ak=1001061&mk=50285999.
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The Council on Postsecondary Education is leading efforts to get more Kentuckians more highly educated. By 2030, at least 60 percent of working-age adults in Kentucky will need to have earned a postsecondary education degree or credential to meet expected workforce demands.