A proposal by the Illinois Board of Higher Education to make tougher college entrance requirements optional, rather than mandatory, will not directly affect admissions to NIU.

Admissions Director Dan Oborn said if the new requirements, expected to take effect in 1993, are advisory, then NIU will not be forced to change its entrance requirements.

NIU currently requires applicants to have completed three years of english, two years each of social studies, math and science and one year of a foreign language in high school. The new requirements would call for high school students to take an additional year of each subject.

Oborn said NIU faculty formed the present admission requirements based on courses taught at NIU. He said admission standards should be set at the institutional level with assistance from area high schools, rather than at the state level by the IBHE.

The IBHE staff also believes entrance requirements should be established at the college level. The staff said the advisory system is “appropriate because it recognizes that direct actions to improve undergraduate education must be the responsibility of individual institutions.”

Oborn said that when making the NIU admission requirements, the faculty wanted to “allow some flexibility in high school schedules and still have college preparatory background.”

While allowing for “flexibility” in admission criteria, the board’s staff recommends the board “monitor student progress and success, and examine the results of assessments of undergraduate education.”

Oborn said the current 10-unit requirement, as opposed to the suggested 15-unit requirement, allows high school students to take classes such as music and art.

Oborn also said NIU professors do not have to teach freshmen students what they should have learned in high school. “Students ought to know that information before they come,” he said.

In 1985, the American College Testing Program’s analysis showed a difference of 3.3 points in composite scores of students with core college preparation compared to students with less preparation. The gap in composite score results has widened to four points in 1988, according to a board study.

If the tougher restrictions become mandatory, it “probably” would affect the number of freshmen admitted to NIU, but “it’s hard to estimate,” Oborn said.

The IBHE is expected to vote on the proposal at its February meeting.