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Students taking longer to
receive four-year degree
By Sam S. Kepfield
Staff Reporter
Traditionally, college means the first taste
of freedom for most students as well as
encountering new ideas, meeting class
mates from other states, or countries, big-time
athletics and a new vista of social activities. It
also means doing it all in four years.
However, this pattern is fast disappearing
according to a study released by the National
Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), which
was reported in the July 15 issue of The Chronicle
of Higher Education.
In a study of full-time freshmen entering 297
institutions in the fall of 1984, the NCAA
surveyed graduation percentages as of the fall
of 1990. Overall, only 53 percent of the half
million freshmen had received their bachelor’s
degrees.
Numbers from the University of Nebraska
Lincoln mirrored the study. Total graduation
rates for women were 51 percent and for men 46
percent. Rates were higher for Asians and
whites, while being lower for blacks, Hispanics
and American Indians. More women than men
graduated in all racial categories at UNL.
According to studies done by the office of
James Gricsen, vice chancellor for Student
Affairs at UNL, only 17 percent of traditional
students entering in the fall semesters gradu
ated within four years. After five years, 43
percent received their degree, and within 10
years, 60 percent graduated*
Gricsen said Nebraska’s numbers are not
low, considering the school’s open admissions
policy. Others, such as Ivy League institutions
with higher standards, have higher graduation
rates.
Raising graduation rates is one reason the
N U Board of Regents will be debating proposed
changes in Nebraska’s open admissions policy
this fall.
“The more selective you are in admitting
people,” Gricsen said, “the more students you
will have graduating.”
See FOUR on 3
Teachers’standards rise
By DeDra Janssen
Staff Reporter
\
A higher level of computer literacy is just
one of the new requirements students
must meet to gain admissions into the
University of Ncbraska-Lincoln’s Teachers
College.
Margaret Sicvers, director of the Teachers
College Student Services Center, said because
computers arc now so common in the class
room, teachers need to learn to use them.
“They (computers) arc an excellent leaching
tool,” Sicvers said. “All schools have PC’s.
Teachers need to know how to use them so they
can teach kids how to use them.
“The new requirements are important be
cause more and more goes into teaching. It’s
more important for teachers to know a foreign
language. Many students will speak a native
language other than English,” Sicvers said.
“Teachers need to know more these days.”
Current admission requirements include four
years of English in high school, two years of
math, social sciences and natural sciences and
one year of fine or performing arts.
According to Sievcrs, the new requirements
include four years of English and math in high
school, three years of social sciences and natu
ral sciences, and beginning in 1994, two years
of a foreign language in high school or two
semesters of a foreign language at the college
level.
In addition, the Teachers College requires
students to be in the upper half of their high
school class or to have scored a 20 on the ACT.
The college also will not accept students who
have high school deficiencies in these require
ments, Sievcrs said.
“We’ve been criticized for making the col
lege exclusive, but eventually enrollment will
go up. Better quality students will becoming in
and better quality teachers will be coming out,”
Sievcrs said.
“We’ll probably sec a reduced number of
dropouts,” Sievcrs said. “Retention rales will
be higher. We’ll attract and hold better stu
dents.”
She said that out of almost 2,200 students in
the Teachers College, 20 arc dismissed a year.
See TEACH on 3
I_- -- -.— - —. ’
Stab McKee/D N
Ted Sehnert (left) and Tom Price, both of Lincoln, celebrate together as they
cross the finish line after the 77-mile road race at Branched Oak Lake
Saturday. Price finished second and Sehnert placed third, both with a time
of 3:29. See related story on page 6.
Regents to discuss changes in overall budget process
By Andrea Kaser
Staff Reporter
ack of lime and uniform budget criteria
at the last University of Nebraska Board
_of Regents meeting on July 12 has led
regents to call for a budget subcommittee meet*
ing to discuss possible changes in the budget
process.
Budget guidelines for the 1993*95 biennial
were approved at the last regents meeting in
Scottsbluff, but only because regents felt they
were “under the gun,” said Regent Rosemary
Skrupa of Omaha.
Skrupa said regents felt required to have the
guidelines submitted to the Nebraska Legisla
ture by August when they then must be ap
proved and turned over to the governor by Sept.
15.
The first budget proposal presented by Uni
versity President Martin Masiengale was turned
down by the regents, and so was his second
alternative request. Five minutes later though,
the alternative plan was approved.
Some regents had misgivings about approv
ing the plan, not because they objected to the
guidelines, bul because they were uneasy about
the process, they said.
Individual campuses did not have standard
ized lists of expenses to include in their guide
lines, so there were inconsistencies in the total
budget, Skrupa said.
For example, Lincoln, Omaha and Kearney
campuses listed whalcame lobe a total of $3.04
million for new faculty, where the medical
center did not include such a figure.
Lack of standardization across all campuses,
Skrupa said, was like comparing apples to
oranges when the board should be comparing
apples to apples.
The budget subcommittee will meet July 31,
and will discuss in detail the approved guide
lines and consider changes in the overall budget
process.
But even so, Regent Nancy O’Brien of
Waterloo had mixed feelings, and said she
would rather have had the meeting before the
1993-95 guidelines were approved.
Along with uniform criteria for each cam
pus, O’Brien said she would like to receive
budget proposals one year instead of one mdtith
in advance.