Two years into the new selective admissions criteria, enrollment data indicates the University’s student body is more diverse now than at any time in the history of the University while the average ACT score for incoming freshman has also increased. The overall enrollment of minorities at the University has increased by 12 percent since 1992. In fall 1992, the University’s enrollment totaled 7,605 students, and the number of minority students enrolled was 14 percent of the student population. By fall 2004, University enrollment totaled 7,482 and minority enrollment increased to 25 percent of the student population.
When the University implemented its selective admissions criteria, which became effective fall 2005, a major concern was the possible decline in the enrollment of minority students, Eugene Dial, vice president of student affairs and enrollment services, said.
According to a report written by Dial, “Literature reports that institutions implementing selective admissions standards usually see an overall reduction in enrollment as well as a significant reduction in minority enrollment.”
Due to this threat, additional resources were committed to ensure enrollment remained reflective of the demographics of the University’s primary service region, South Central Louisiana, because 80 to 85 percent of enrollment comes from this seven-parish area.
The University hired a minority recruitment coordinator and also strengthened scholarship opportunities by gearing more of them toward minority students, Dial said.
“Our job is to be the primary higher education service provider for the region,” Dial said. “If you look at the demographics of the region, you’re going to find a significant population of African-American, Asian-American and now developing Hispanic-American students. If we’re going to meet our mission as an institution, we should have a student body that’s close to what the general population is in the region.”
A diverse student body is also important because not only will graduating students be competing to be the best in the Southern Louisiana region, but also the world, Dial said.
“We need to learn how people from other cultures think differently,” Dial said. “We need to try to take the best that we can learn from different cultures to make ourselves better prepared professionals.”
The selective admissions criteria implemented in 2005 requires students to complete the Board of Regents’ high school core curriculum (TOPS), have a high school grade point average of 2.0 or greater, an ACT composite score of 20 or a high school graduation ranking of at least the top 50 percent of a graduating class and require no more than one remedial course.
In the fall semester, the average ACT score for incoming freshman was 20.92 as compared to the 19.33 in the fall 2002 semester. Dial said he does not expect the score to jump two points again in the next three years, but he said he is expecting it to slowly rise.
“To have increased by more than a point and a half in a three to four year period is unheard of across the country,” Dial said. “The whole Nicholls community should be proud of that.”
In a press release, University president Stephen Hulbert said this is an accomplishment to take pride in.
“Improving student diversity involves changing the perceptions of potential students. An increase in this magnitude signals tremendous recruiting efforts and shows minority students feel at home at Nicholls,” Hulbert said.
The University has been actively involved in working with high school counselors of public and private schools throughout the region to ensure the underclassmen understand the required classes for the core curriculum, Dial said.
If the students take core classes, Dial said “they have a pretty good, reasonable chance of being successful.” These students that meet the University’s admissions criteria are specifically recruited.
“We no longer go and just set up a table at a school,” Dial said. “We make sure that whatever we’re doing is geared towards getting the best students we can possibly get.”
Dial believes the number of minority students enrolled will continue to steadily increase over time, and Nicholls will generally grow in the years to come.
“Within four years Nicholls will be the school of choice in the region,” Dial said. “I think we’ll continue to see qualifications for incoming students to go up and increase in retention rates.
