In an attempt to upgrade university transfer admissions requirements, a newly-proposed policy could do away with automatic admission for community college transfer students.

Eleanor Godfrey, chairman of the admissions policies and standards committee, presented a proposed policy to the Faculty Assembly Wednesday which would affect benefits to transfer students under the Illinois Community College Compact.

The Undergraduate Coordinating Council recently approved the proposed compact benefits policy. The policy would change the university’s requirements for Illinois public community college transfer students seeking admission to NIU.

According to current university regulations, students who have graduated from community colleges with either an associate’s degree are automatically granted admission to NIU with junior standing and fulfillment of general education requirements.

The proposed policy would make it necessary for transfer applications to meet requirements specified by a model in the policy, as well as those requirements specified by the Illinois Community College Board.

However, the new policy will need final approval from the University Council. The policy will go before the UC at its final meeting of the semester next week.

Judy Bischoff, University Council Executive Secretary, said the proposed policy will be automatically approved by the UC unless any objections are raised.

Godfrey said she does not anticipate any difficulty when the policy goes before the UC for approval next week.

Many faculty objected to the present policy because loopholes allowed some transfer students to attend NIU without having fulfilled general education requirements equivalent to NIU standards.

A study conducted in the spring of 1988 by Sue Doederlein, associate dean for Liberal Arts and Sciences, found that only two of 126 transfer transcripts reviewed met NIU’s general education requirements. A follow-up study conducted last semester reaffirmed the findings of the spring research.

APASC began work on the policy in January. But Godfrey said concerns over transfer admissions standards date back several years.

If adopted by the UC, the policy will be implemented for Fall 1993 admissions.

NIU Math Professor Linda Sons said she believes the proposed policy will set an example for other state schools and is a step toward improving the quality of state higher education.