CCRI Looks at Lowering RI Promise Scholarship Standards—Lower GPA & Fewer Credits
Saturday, March 31, 2018
GoLocal has secured a copy of a confidential Community College of Rhode Island report that states an overwhelming majority of the CCRI students that received free tuition under the state’s new free tuition program — Promise Scholarship — are falling behind and will not graduate on schedule.
The top Community College of Rhode Island official told some CCRI faculty and administration officials that the current requirements for the RI Promise Scholarship program are a "barrier to advancement" — and suggested that lowering the bar for the state's recently enacted free college tuition program for the state's community college could raise success rates.
In a nine-page report presented at the President's Council on March 28 by CCRI Vice President and Chief Outcome Office Sara Enright, the current requirements of a 2.5 GPA and 30 credits a year for the Promise Scholarship, which was championed by Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo and approved by the General Assembly last year — are now being called into question as too stringent.
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"Data regarding RI Promise students was originally requested in early November 2017 and none was produced until this week. The data produced does not present a compelling case for continuing the program and questions remain as to how the College spent the close to $3 million dollars received from the state to fund this program," said Steve Murray, President of the CCRI Faculty Union.
"The Governor and the legislature created the program and the requirements that accompanied it. Asking a student to maintain a 2.5 average (less than a B average) to receive this type of financial assistance does not seem to be asking for too much from them and to lower the required GPA below 2.5 wouldn’t send students nor the taxpayers who fund this program, the message that we are looking to students to excel," said Murray.
The presentation included slides that showed that since enactment of RI Promise, there was a "240%" increase of students on track to graduate in two years, from 68 in 2016, to 231 in 2017, and a "500%" increase of students of color on track to graduate in two years -- from 10 in 2016, to 60 in 2017.
According to the document, of the 720 RI Promise full scholarship, just 13% are scheduled to graduate in two years.
The document makes recommendations to drop GPA or and the number of required credits.
What has changed?
Is this the “dumbing down” of the program or is it the reality that Rhode Island high schools simply are not preparing students for the next step?
A GoLocal story published in 2012 found that CCRI was lacking the community colleges around the country. The story cited a report, titled “Not ‘College Ready,’” that broke down previously released statistics such as the number of incoming CCRI students who have to take at least one remedial course as well graduation rates and suggests social promotion may be one of the leading reasons the majority of students find college-level work “overly challenging.”
The numbers were striking.
For the 2010/11 school year, CCRI’s three-year graduation rate was just 9.6 percent, ranking Rhode Island No. 48 in the country when it comes to graduation rates from two-year institutions.
Forty percent of first-time students stop taking classes after one year.
Seventy-three percent of incoming freshmen were deemed “developmental” and in need of remediation in at least one subject area.
In 2008 and 2009, 12 percent of all credit hours at the college were for remedial courses.
“Even in light of significant remediation efforts over the years, the CCRI graduation rate has remained virtually unchanged,” the report stated. “This suggests that either a greater emphasis needs to be placed on remediation, or that remediation, while pursuing a college curriculum, is futile.”
Latest in Controversy
In 2017, the Rhode Island General Assembly approved $2.8 million for the first year of the four year pilot program at CCRI.
Originally, Raimondo had proposed making two years free at Rhode Island's four-year colleges -- Rhode Island College and the University of Rhode Island -- as well, but the Senate rejected that for the CCRI-only measure.
Now, the Rhode Island Council on Postsecondary Education just voted in to raise tuition at both the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College for the next school year -- which is expected to generate millions in revenue.
The amount? $2.8 million.
Undergraduate tuition and fees for in-state students at URI will rise 2.5% to $14,138, an increase of $346 over the current school year. The increase for out-of-state students will be 2.7%, an increase of $820, for a total cost of $30,862.
Full-time undergraduate tuition and fees for in-state students at RIC will rise 1.7% to $8,929, an increase of $153 over this year. For out-of-state students the increase will be 1.9% -- an additional $403 -- bringing the total cost to $21,692.
Related Slideshow: CCRI Promise Report March 2018
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