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COLLEGE-BOUND SCRAMBLE FOR SPOT
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Published: September 5, 2007
TAMPA - What's an A student to do?
The University of South Florida was once considered a backup school for many top college-bound seniors who braced for rejection from the University of Florida or Florida State University. But students such as Gabby Rodriguez are sure of nothing these days.
Despite earning a 4.3 weighted grade-point average at Tampa's Jefferson High School, Rodriguez, 17, fears she will be edged out of her preferred colleges by competitors with GPAs that reach a stratospheric 6.0.
'I told my mom: A 4.3 is no longer that great,' she said, revisiting the uncertainty she felt when applying to UF, FSU and USF. As she awaits answers from those universities, she is researching the radiology program at Hillsborough Community College, a school neither she nor her college-driven classmates pictured themselves attending.
Now, however, Florida's 11 public universities are capping the number of freshmen they will accept, limiting the backup options for even the brightest students. Admissions officers throughout the state are increasingly encouraging B-average students to first consider community college and try again after two years.
Admissions standards had been tightening, but looming budget cuts promise that thousands more high school seniors will be refused admission to a state university.
The prospect of rejection is crushing for students such as Rodriguez and other Jefferson High seniors who recently talked with The Tampa Tribune about the pressure of getting into college.
Although they have earned GPAs that exceed 4.0, they ask themselves whether they have done enough the past four years to get where they wanted, and they wonder what their options are - whether in Florida or elsewhere.
It's hard enough without schools freezing out prospective freshmen, Rodriguez said. 'This just puts that much more pressure on us,' she said.
No state university considers itself a backup anymore, and no one knows that better than students. The average high school GPA of freshmen who entered USF this fall is 3.71, and nearly 1 in 4 were ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school classes.
USF officials recently told Jefferson High guidance resource specialist Dana Pines that it will be harder for students to gain entry. But Pines has seen that happening for years.
Standards Freeze Out Students
Rising admissions standards have led to smaller freshman classes at USF every year since 2003. Back then, Pines rarely saw students choose the University of Central Florida in Orlando. She finds now that several pick UCF after being rejected by USF.
Even that will change, though. The average GPA of freshmen who entered UCF this fall is a 3.72, up from 3.68 last year, and students will find it harder to meet coming admissions requirements, said Gordon Chavis, UCF's assistant vice president for undergraduate admissions.
The university already has denied admission to some students who got into FSU, Chavis said.
The enrollment freeze for next fall, ordered by the state's university oversight board, will put a stop to the steady growth UCF has seen among freshmen over the past five years.
Demand is expected to increase, however. 'Anyone below a B average in high school is going to find a tougher time gaining admission if this freeze continues to play out and the budget situation doesn't improve,' Chavis said.
University presidents for years have complained that they haven't received enough state money to accommodate growth in enrollment. After Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed a 5 percent tuition increase and warned state agencies this summer to plan for budget cuts as high as 10 percent, the university oversight board ordered a freeze on freshman enrollment for the next three years.
Community colleges said they would not cap enrollment. Some, such as St. Petersburg College, are using the university enrollment caps as a way to market their programs.
But not all are convinced that students seeking a four-year experience will settle for community colleges.
'If they can't get it at a state university, they'll get it somewhere else, maybe out of state,' said John Yancey, admissions director at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, where the average GPA of incoming freshmen has climbed to 3.58.
State colleges in Alabama, Georgia, Ohio and Iowa recruit from Hillsborough County high schools frequently, and they bring scholarship offers comparable to Florida universities, high school guidance specialists say.
The University of Alabama keeps a recruiter in Orlando who visits schools along the Interstate 4 corridor. The number of students graduating from high schools in Alabama has been flat, and is expected to remain that way. That leaves room at the state universities, said Mary Spiegel, executive undergraduate admissions director at the University of Alabama.
And there's more wiggle room for students' academic credentials. The average GPA among incoming freshmen at Alabama is 3.3, Spiegel said.
Of Florida students, she said, 'I think we have a lot to offer them here.'
B Average Will No Longer Cut It
USF officials acknowledge that the standard they have set might squeeze out more students with a B average or lower. Leellen Brigman, USF's associate vice president for enrollment planning and management, said the university is encouraging students with 'more marginal credentials' to come to USF after first getting an associate degree.
Brigman stresses, however, that they will continue to look at 'the whole package,' not just grades and test scores.
But grades and test scores add pressure on a college application process that increasingly strains students, guidance specialists say.
'I wouldn't be able to get into USF now, and I was an honors student,' said Pines, the guidance resource specialist at Jefferson.
Many of her students want to go to the state's flagship colleges, UF and FSU. USF, though, has become as hard to crack. Joshua Wallace, 18, a senior at Jefferson, has a 4.5 weighted grade-point average, which he fears isn't enough to compete with the top students who gain entry into UF.
The average GPA among incoming freshmen at UF this fall is 4.1.
Wallace says he may end up at UCF, even though he has yet to hear from UF on his application. 'But I'm not going to let that change who I am,' he said.
The stigma of settling for HCC weighs heavily on the most college-driven students, even though Jefferson's valedictorian of two years ago entered the community college's honors institute. 'I asked him if I could take two of his grade points,' Wallace joked.
His classmate, 17-year-old Kayla Wright, a senior hoping to get into FSU, says the pending enrollment freeze 'really turns the tables on us.'
Sara Key, 17, agrees. 'If only we could have applied four years ago,' she said.
Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at aemerson@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-8285.
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