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2821 DOCUMENTS OF THE GENERAL FACULTY REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE ADMISSIONS AND REGISTRATION COMMITTEE CONCERNING THE COORDINATED ADMISSIONS PROGRAM (CAP) On behalf of the Admissions and Registration Committee, Chair Larry Carver (professor, English) has presented the following report and recommendations for discussion by the Faculty Council at its meeting on January 26, 2004. <signed> Sue Alexander Greninger, Secretary The Faculty Council Posted on the Faculty Council Web site (http://www.utexas.edu/faculty/council/) on January 23, 2004. Paper copies are available on request from the Office of the General Faculty, FAC 22, F9500. 2822 REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE ADMISSIONS AND REGISTRATION COMMITTEE CONCERNING THE COORDINATED ADMISSIONS PROGRAM (CAP) The Admissions and Registration Committee is proposing to change the requirements for students in The Coordinated Admissions Program (CAP) to enroll at The University of Texas at Austin. On November 16, 2000, with approval of The University of Texas System Board of Regents, UT Austin instituted an “Off-campus Provisional Admission Program,” a program that became known as CAP. Graduates of Texas high schools who had completed all necessary high school requirements but who had not been admitted to UT Austin could gain admission to UT Austin by completing thirty semester hours of prescribed coursework at one of five participating University of Texas component institutions. The coursework had to be completed during the fall and spring semesters (and mini-semesters during the summer at selected campuses) immediately following the students’ high school graduation. These students needed to attain a minimum grade point average of 3.0. When the Faculty Council approved CAP, it asked the Office of Admissions to evaluate the program within three years of its implementation. That evaluation shows that CAP has proven attractive to freshmen students who did not gain regular admission but who still want to attend UT Austin. The following table gives the statistics for CAP for the three years since its implementation: YEAR Offers Acceptances Matriculations 2001 2084 476 182 2002 3387 800 326 2003 6256 1751 675 (estimated) Students are clearly attracted to this option, and those who do enroll at UT Austin are doing well academically. The mean grade point average for those in the 2001 cohort after one year at the University matches that of those admitted in the summer program: 2.6. It is just a bit lower than that attained by those regularly admitted but not in the top 10%--2.64 versus 2.83--and is, as one might predict, lower than that achieved by those admitted in the top 10%, 2.64 versus 3.10. The UT System institutions participating in the program—UT Arlington, UT El Paso, UT Pan American, UT Permian Basin, and UT San Antonio—are, on the whole, pleased with the quality of the CAP students and happy that many of these students, who might not otherwise consider attending their campuses, are choosing to do so. The one criticism seems to be that as the numbers grow, so do the number of students who may not meet the admissions requirements of a given institution. For example, for the class of 2003, 1140 students enrolled at UT San Antonio, and fifty-nine of that group did not meet UT San Antonio’s admissions requirements. At the same time, those who did not meet those requirements in the class of 2001 (thirty-eight) are performing well academically. We will address this concern in our recommendations. At the time CAP was approved, the primary concern was that CAP would add to the already growing numbers of UT applicants and create unacceptable enrollment pressures on UT Austin. The number of students estimated to enroll at UT Austin from CAP in the fall of 2004 will be close to the number admitted under the Provisional Program, the program CAP replaced in 2001 to control the size of the freshman class. Each student admitted under CAP results in denial of admission to a student wishing to transfer into UT Austin. As CAP grows, we are affording fewer opportunities to students in the State’s junior college system as well as those attending four-year institutions. The mean grade point average (MGPA) for CAP students in 2001 was 3.27; for transfer students that year the MGPA was 3.56. Consequently, there is the potential for admitting a weaker group of students as the enrollment from CAP continues to grow. To address the concerns of the quality and number of students entering UT Austin under CAP, the Admissions and Registration Committee recommends that: 2823 1. The GPA earned on thirty hours at component UT System institutions be raised from the current 3.0 to 3.2. 2. All CAP students be required to take as part of thirty hours of course work a mathematics course beyond M 301. 3. CAP students may not count credit in short semester courses as part of the required thirty hours.1 4. The deadline for accepting CAP be moved from July 1 to June 1. 5. UT System participating institutions be able to accept only those CAP students who meet their admissions requirements. 6. CAP be reviewed each year. These recommendations will help to improve the quality of those students enrolling under CAP; they will also help to control enrollment. Though we cannot say how many fewer CAP students will enter UT Austin if these recommendations are adopted for those entering in the fall of 2005, we are fairly certain there will be fewer. If the 3.2 GPA had been in place for those entering in the fall of 2002, 120 students would have been admitted instead of 182. For the fall of 2003, 245 students would have enrolled at UT Austin under CAP instead of 326. We also believe that even if the number of students accepting CAP continues to grow, that the requirement of a mathematics course beyond M 301 will also limit the number who will be eligible to enroll at UT Austin while enhancing the academic preparation of those who are admitted. Given the attractiveness of the program and given the pressures on enrollments at UT Austin, we strongly recommend that CAP be reviewed on a yearly basis.   1Professor Larry Carever requested a change from "CAP students not be able to participate in short semester courses," at the Faculty Council meeting on January 26, 2004.