San Diego State President Stephen L. Weber recently disclosed an idea he calls a “magic bullet” for local education. Weber claimed eliminating the SDSU policy guaranteeing priority to students within the university’s local service area would improve the quality of education at SDSU.
That statement provoked criticism across the county as local activists expressed their disgust with the idea. Weber believes making admissions more competitive will encourage local students to rise to the occasion, while others feel it is a violation of school identity. In their eyes, SDSU was and always should be a school that caters to the region.
The problem, however, is that qualified students are being denied acceptance to SDSU simply because they happen to live outside the SDSU local service area, an area that extends south of Highway 56 and includes Imperial County. Though designed to help students of lower income families and minority groups, this policy only hurts everyone involved.
It’s common sense — if local priorities were done away with, students would need to apply themselves more and develop a greater desire to go to college. The way the policy stands now, students coasting their way through high school are nearly guaranteed acceptance to SDSU as long as they meet minimum GPA requirements. I don’t see how proximity to one’s university could possibly make one a better student. If we want to improve the value of our degrees, we should pick the students who have poured the most effort into their education. Otherwise, we’re simply diluting the meaning of our college degrees. Think about it — how could harder-working applicants possibly hurt our prestigious university?
Some critics have accused this policy as attacking the minorities and those who come from low-income families. I find it extremely difficult to believe the minority population is in any way less intelligent or less capable than their counterparts in the majority. To say a person is incapable of competing on a fair playing field because of their ethnicity or social conditions is an insult in itself. SDSU is already home to one of the most diverse student populations in the nation, and I find it hard to believe they all got accepted because of a welfare policy.
It is definitely less expensive to live at home and go to college, which would make it easier for students to go to a local university, but hopefully we will all move out of our parents’ houses one day. Why not do two years at a community college and then transfer to a California State University school where housing isn’t so expensive?
Let’s be honest, there are plenty of other California State Universities with lower standards than SDSU that are willing to accept students with lower GPAs with open arms. CSU San Marcos is right in our back yard and has a 72 percent acceptance rate, with 59 percent of accepted students having a GPA lower than 3.24. Even San Jose State had a 57 percent acceptance rate, with 47 percent of accepted students having less than a 3.24 GPA. There are many alternatives in California. With an acceptance rate slightly more than 36 percent at SDSU, it’s hard to see why we wouldn’t take the best students. Why not accept the cream of the crop instead of the much blander crème de local?
Along with local schools, SDSU could benefit greatly from the removal of this policy. Aside from an increase in academic levels, SDSU would benefit financially. Non-local students bring revenue. Tuition from out-of-state students alone would make a significant impact. More revenue doesn’t just mean out-of-town students will buy more T-shirts from the bookstore. Non-local students would require more on- and near-campus housing. A true College Area could finally be developed to give students a more comfortable and convenient college experience.
More money means better education. We could afford to hold onto more teachers instead of replacing them all with graduate students. If there’s any doubt that education is related to money, just look at any of the University of California schools and it will be painfully obvious.
SDSU’s acceptance rate makes it clear that students from all around the U.S. must work harder to get in. Local students should not be the exception to this. We need to stop underestimating the potential of these groups and give everyone a chance to rise to the level of competition. As we take steps to become a more prominent university in California, we need to do ourselves and local schools a favor and raise the bar.
—Jacob Clark is a biology and Spanish junior.
—The views expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Daily Aztec.
