In his Vision 2020 plan, NIU President John Peters identified student quality as an area for improvement for the university over the next eight years. Part one of this three part series looked at past trends in student quality. Today will examine comparisons to other public schools, and tomorrow’s conclusion will focus on the future of student quality at NIU.

By 2020, according the President John Peters’ Vision 2020 plan, NIU hopes to increase the average ACT score of its incoming freshman by 1.1 point.

Over the past 10 years, Illinois State University has done just that.

According to data requested from universities and found through the National Center for Education Statistics, over the past 10 years, the average ACT of freshman at ISU increased by 1.3 points, from 22.8 in 2001 to 24.1 in 2011. NIU hopes to increase its average ACT score from 21.9 in 2011 to 23 in 2020.

As the average ACT score and high school class rank of NIU’s incoming freshmen classes has remained consistent over the last 10 years, those of competing institutions have, in some cases, changed.

Changes in Illinois

Brian Hemphill, vice president for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, said in an email interview that NIU’s competitor schools – those that it has an overlap in applications with – are public universities in Illinois as well as out-of-state public universities and some community colleges.

Data requested from universities and found through the National Center for Education Statistics shows that over the past 10 years, student quality has generally risen at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois at Chicago, Western Illinois University and ISU, and remained consistent at Eastern Illinois University and Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

In an email interview, Jonathan Rosenthal, associate vice president for Enrollment Management and Academic Services at ISU, attributed the school’s increase in student quality to its recruitment efforts – high school visits, college fairs and outreach programs off campus – and its reputation.

“The increasing reputation of Illinois State for academic quality and value has also worked in our favor,” he said in the email.

Admissions Standards

ACT spokesperson Ed Colby said differences in average student quality between institutions speaks to the admissions policies of that institution.

“Every college has to look at its coursework and demands it will place on students and make determinations for each student to [see] what students will succeed on their campus,” he said.

Rosenthal said admissions standards have also increased at ISU based on the quality of students applying.

“As the quality of the applicants has risen, so have our standards for admission,” he said.

There has been a rise in the quality of student applicants to NIU, but Hemphill said there have been no changes in admissions standards recently.

Motivation

Rosenthal and Hemphill said student quality is important for graduation and retention rates but are not the only important factor.

Andrew Borst, admission director for WIU, said ACT score and GPA are both predictive of first semester GPA for new freshmen, but is not predictive of retention – whether those students will come back in their sophomore year.

Much more goes into that process, he said.

“Where students start college, academically, is not always where they end up,” he said. He listed other factors of importance: parent influence, teaching and learning support, faculty and peer relationships, academic and educational aspirations and motivation and attitude.

Student Admission

For students, admissions policies can affect to what institutions they apply. Alyssa Hamrick, sophomore human development major at ISU, said it was “in the back of her mind” that she didn’t have the ACT score the school she was applying to required.

Hamrick scored a 22 on the ACT. When she entered ISU in 2010, the average ACT score was 24.1.

Cindy Dugan, counselor at DeKalb High School, said guidance counselors urge students to apply to schools that have admissions standards both above and below their ACT scores and high school class rank.

“When they’re trying to decide what schools to apply to we always encourage them to apply to one dream school, one they think is a pretty sure bet and then a safe school,” she said.

The Future

Rosenthal said ISU looks to maintain its increases in student quality over the last 10 years.

WIU, however, has a student quality initiative similar to NIU’s Vision 2020.

Borst said WIU looks to increase mid-range students – those with a 22 ACT and 3.0 GPA by 15 percent in the next two years and double the size of the honors college in that same time frame.

NIU looks to increase the number of students in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class to 20 percent by 2020 and the average GPA to 3.30.

In 2011, NIU’s incoming freshman class had of 8.9 percent of students in the top 10 percent of their high school class. The average high school GPA was 3.06.