EDITORIAL: More money, lower standards
Steven Johnson is targeting a new audience to help improve a declining enrollment trend, but it comes at a heavy price: Our academic standards.
As vice president of enrollment and student services, Johnson has a big role to play as new freshmen enrollment figures plummet to the lowest they’ve been in 16 years.
It’s no surprise that the weight of the decline has landed on his shoulders. However, his new solution to attract more students to Central Michigan University doesn’t seem to have the rest of the university’s best interests in mind.
On Monday, Johnson’s office rolled out a plan for a facelift to CMU’s scholarship and financial aid packages. After adding $6 million to institutional financial aid that university President George Ross was “committed to providing for,” an additional 800 freshmen will receive academic merit scholarships next year.
The extra scholarship funding will bring CMU’s total to $61 million and open the awards up to students with lower, 3.0-3.49 GPAs, as well as the formerly exclusive 3.5+ GPA students.
Award values were also increased. Most are now valued at $3,000 - $6,000 instead of the former $2,500 per year for CMU merit scholarships.
To make CMU appealing to a larger number of students, the university has effectively lowered academic standards by offering a larger amount of money to a lower academic class of student.
There is merit to increasing scholarship funds, but this is not the way to do it. Adding more merit-based scholarships does not mean the university has to lower its academic standards.
In fact, there is incentive for CMU to keep their standards high, as more high-achieving students might find the university appealing if more money is being thrown their way. Instead, they see CMU awarding a broader pool of students for supposed achievement, potentially making CMU less attractive to students desiring a high-level education.
By reducing the academic talent needed for merit-based scholarships, they lose their value. Students who once strived for excellence can now relax, knowing that Johnson has built them a half-point safety net.
However, the university hasn’t done the same for existing students on campus. The new packages seem to be focused entirely on recruitment, while ignoring retention of current students on campus.
According to university officials, additional money is being used to benefit nearly one third of the typical incoming freshman class. There’s not one mention of any new scholarships for existing students being made available in the future.
Johnson said the investment will assist students in reducing debt and graduating on time, but apparently that only applies to those who have yet to arrive.
While promoting the future of CMU is important for the growth and resilience of the university, it’s even more important not to abandon those who are already here.
