. for some local students, san jose state has always been a fallback plan for college. but due to budget problems, they may have to go elsewhere. >> knowing that, okay, what if the other schools don't work out, what am i going to do now? >> how these new changes are going to affect local and transfer students here in the bay area. that issue, coming right up, on equal time. . from san jose state university, you're watching equal time, exploring new issues each week, giving equal time to competing points of view. . hello, from the campus of san jose state university. and welcome to this edition of equal time. i'm your host, journalism school director bob rucker. san jose state university is the oldest in the csu system and has a long-standing policy of guaranteeing admission to local residents. but that has now changed. jessica savage begins our coverage by showing why the

university made the difficult decision. >> reporter: san jose state university for years has been a guarantee for local students, like lincoln high school senior eric sullivan, who applied to six of the california state universities this year, including sjsu. though sullivan wasn't at all concerned about being accepted to san jose state, but when news about it changing its admission requirements reached eric and his family, they began to worry. >> the fact that my backup plan might not be there kind of shocked me and i was kind of nervous, knowing that, okay, what if the other schools don't work out, what am i going to do now? >> made me think, uh-oh, what does that -- they said they were withholding certain amounts of acceptance letters because they hadn't decided if they were going to change the requirement for those local students to get in or not. and he hadn't received his yet. >> reporter: the sullivans are not alone. eric is one of the 45,000 prospective students who applied to sjsu for the fall 2012

semester, making this the second year in a row the university has had a record high number of applicants. this is a good and bad problem to have, according to william nance, vice president of student affairs at san jose state. >> it's a good thing in that we're a destination campus, that people see the value, see the quality of the education that we provide. the downside is that means not everybody can come. >> reporter: the university is changing its long-standing policy from the local area guarantee to a local area preference, making requirements stricter, starting in the 2013 to 2014 year. >> the system no longer admits, can no longer admit all of the csu-eligible local students. this is a situation that has caused by the failure of our elected officials in sacramento to adequately fund the csu in general and san jose state specifically. >> reporter: this is the best option right now, according to

sjsu public information officer pat terrace. in order to combat the continuing budget crisis that is plaguing all of csu campuses. >> when state support drops in the area of, say, 700 million, there are few things we can do to make up for that and to ensure that our existing students have classes. we can do massive layoffs. we can seek out efficiencies wherever we might find them. but really the most effective thing is to control growth. >> reporter: in addition to these changes, students will be admitted according to the capacity and requirements of their intended major. >> so for every major, you need to have grades and test scores above the csu minimum. it varies by major, but you have to be above the csu minimum. the only major which was at the csu minimum level was undeclared. >> reporter: but after evaluation, many of these students who just meet the csu minimum requirements end up struggling and dropping out of college. >> we very realistically need to

look at the performance of the students who are being admitted at the csu minimum. what we're finding is it's really hard for them in a year or two, to improve to the point where they can get into a major, stay here long enough to finish their classes and actually graduate. the idea is really to raise the minimum threshold, just a little bit, so that the students we do admit have a better chance of succeeding. >> i think it's good, because you don't want just everybody coming in that's, just because they have a 2.0. not going to look good on the school, so a lot of people drop out. >> reporter: jones is on one side of the debate in whether the changes in policy are fair. >> one argument is the university should be admitting all, any and all who are eligible from the local service area without regard to their background, grades, test scores, et cetera. there are -- there's another argument, and if you need the newspaper comments as well that

say admission should be merit-based rather than geography-based. >> reporter: sullivan's mother michelle doesn't agree with the changes because of how it might affect her students, like her younger son who has learning disabilities. >> in high school, the best grade he may get is a c because he's not going to be able to pass the math test, even if he scored high in other classes. i don't know -- i don't know how that's going to work. i do worry about that. >> reporter: while her husband, who is an sjsu alum, agrees with the new standards. >> i would want the standards to be the same at most csu's, regardless of which campus. >> reporter: san jose state university has been holding public hearings. when we come back, we'll give the other side of equal time. >> see if there's any way this policy can be put on hold until these decisions are made. >> we'll look at the reaction to the new policy and alternatives

for students, when equal time returns. . welcome back. we've seen why san jose state has decided to abandon its guaranteed policy of admission for local residents, despite the increasing number of applicants,

but how do prospective freshmen and transfer students, as well as their families, feel about this new change of policy? and what alternative solutions are there? jessica savage continues. >> reporter: at the first hearing held at the martin luther king library, a presentation was given about the new requirements and then opened up the floor for questions during a q&a with the panel of sjsu faculty and staff. many who and ited the event said they left feeling more confused than they had before. >> i don't feel like i could go back to campus and give students definite numbers or definite criteria for admission. so that kind of makes me nervous, after attending this meeting, is that there's a lot of unknown that they are still trying to work out. >> reporter: lincoln high school counselor olga morals denies she is worrying about the students applying in the fall, especially those who have had little support. >> it's going to impact those students, because maybe they didn't have the information

freshman, sophomore year or earlier and have made a turnaround their junior year and they are now csu-eligible, but won't be -- they had been told, as long as they maintain a 2.0, they will be admitted. all of a sudden that's being pulled from them. >> reporter: also in the audience, west valley community college student brian mclaughlin. he is planning to transfer later this year and found the hearing helpful. >> it's just nice to know what's happening at the school, that i'm going to be going to. >> reporter: his mother, who accompanied him, says it's still hard to understand the new admission standards, but the reality of her son not getting in is scarier. >> yeah, it is scary, because it's important to get a degree and they are getting more expensive. it's getting harder to get in. and the future is uncertain. >> reporter: however, she does understand why the university is changing its requirements. >> unfortunately, i think there's not a whole lot they can do. there's just so many people going back to school now because there's no jobs and so

competition is high. >> reporter: it's this kind of acceptance that they hope the community will see. >> we would hope that the community is aware of the difficulties that exist when you simply cannot teach the number of students that want to come to a university like this, when the number of applications continues to just sky rocket. >> reporter: the main focus is still on current university students and getting them through graduation. >> the more that the students can graduate, the more that we have the opportunity to let students in the door, as new freshmen or new transfers coming in. >> reporter: for those who do not gain admission to the university, there are other options available. >> students who can't even make, aren't able to make the csu -- the san jose state threshold will still have the option of applying for special program called path ways. and it will take -- we're

thinking about the 100 students most likely to stay with us and graduate and work with those students, hoping that we can get them to graduate, so there will be a preference and then there will be a special pathways program for more students as well. >> reporter: those not accepted into the special program have another alternative. >> so we work with the other institutions in the area to try to get in, regular students in there. and we particularly work with these to make it a seamless application process to go to school there. >> reporter: the best advice is to work hard a start preparing early. >> my advice to students thinking about coming in the future is start early on your preparation. your grades do matter. your test scores do matter. >> reporter: while academics do matter, it's not the only thing that counts when applying to college. >> test scores, if you're a

freshman, do matter. but it's not the only criterion that we would be looking at for admission. >> reporter: and with eric being a student athlete, he has already gotten three acceptance letters. san jose state is among the three. >> so these are my application receipts showing where i applied to. >> reporter: he has all six of his college applications proudly displayed in his room. as the acceptance letters keep coming, he feels a sense of accomplishment. >> it feels good, knowing that i have been accepted. >> reporter: as for mom and dad, they couldn't be happier. >> excited that he got in, but again, i want him to go away to school and i want him to experience school in a different way. >> i'm proud. he's been working very hard. >> reporter: mom and dad's advice after going through the college application process? >> i don't know if i have any real advisory than to start early. >> reporter: while sully,s everyone calls him on the baseball field, is enjoying the

last few months of high school, he cannot wait for college and hopes to continue to be involved with sports, whether it's on or off the field. >> i want to find a way to keep myself in related to sports. and i thought being on the sidelines treating people would be fun. >> reporter: even though he was admitted to sjsu, he hasn't made any final commitments. >> right now, looks like i'm going to chico. things could change. still haven't admitted myself completely. >> reporter: as for his future, he says the most terrifying thing is the unknown. >> what you don't know is going to happen. >> reporter: eric is looking forward to living on his own for the first time. recently out-of-state colleges showed interest in having eric for their baseball team. looks as if his options are growing. when we come back, we'll sit down with a group of experts seeking for solutions, when equal time continues.

. welcome back to this edition of equal time. our focus today is on san jose state's admission policy. some of the questions and concerns that you've had. let's meet our guests. >> i am bill nance, interim vice president for student affairs here at san jose state. >> i'm dennis jana, associate vice president for undergraduate

studies. >> i'm eric's mother. >> i'm eric sullivan, freshman next year, undeclared major. >> i'm jessica savage, reporter and researcher of the story. what was your first reaction when you first heard we were restricting admissions? >> i think about students who might not be able to afford college, or parents actually, so to be able to go to a local college and not have to pay for dorm fees. also students that have different interests and are, you know, english as second language and not going to attend school, not a lot of places for them. and that was my concern. certainly major concerns to be considered. eric, you're the person we're focused on. we want you to come here and feel welcome to come here. what was your perspective when you heard what was going on? >> when i heard about it, i was kind of nervous, because i hadn't heard back from -- hadn't received my letters from

admissions. this has always been, okay, i'm going to get in, for sure i'm going to get in to san jose state. but i hadn't received my letter and i was starting to get a little nervous. but overall, i felt like it was a good -- it helped, made me feel better about myself getting in, saying, okay, not just because you're a local, you're going to get in automatically. now the standards are up and you have accomplished something, and it made me feel proud of myself. now, let's be clear. let's put the message out for everybody. it's still a priority to have local students come to san jose state, correct? >> absolutely, yes. and jessica, you researched this story. what are some of the concerns that you heard about? >> so i've heard some concerns as far as, again, they are really worried from the two arguments i heard, one argument of people who think it's unfair or don't agree with the new standards. they are worried about the people who don't have, like, michelle was saying, the resources, people who don't speak english, the students who are first generation college

students, and i spoke to a lincoln high school counselor and she was really concerned because she is concerned about the juniors, because it's going to be affecting them, and what if those students, like she was saying, if they don't have resources, get the information late. and maybe they are hustling to get their gps up and meet the minimum number of 2.0 and now they will not be able to get in, because unfortunately they are in the middle, stuck in that in-between space. so those are the main concerns i've heard from both sides. transfer students also are another concern, because we're an impacted school, have impacted programs all across campus. but bill, for those coming in as transfer students, some parents have been calling me and saying why do you have impacks anymore, why do you need it? >> it's all based around the university's capacity, which is basically the number of students that we have, combination of resources, and so i don't want it to just be the finances. but it's a number of faculty,

the level of faculty, tenured faculty and part-time, lab classes. so it's a capacity consideration. how many students can we adequately educate? and the priority is really to make sure that there's true access, not just admit everybody in and not let them get classes, but make sure that everybody that comes here actually has the opportunity to be successful, get the classes that they need and get through. and so when you talk about a capacity discussion, you really get very quickly into how many people do we have, both frosh and transfer. as dennis had said before, when you have the demand that we have trying to come to san jose state, it just becomes very challenging to be able to make sure that everybody that's here really gets the true education that they deserve when they get into college. you've just had a series of forums in the spring semester to try to let people know we do

care, we do listen. what was your experience with the forums? >> the forums have been in credit libel formative, inciteful and helping us shape the final decisions that we need to make going forward in the evening. and so each of the forums was a very different group of people attending, and the comments, they have been well attended, hundred or more in each of the sessions, people having the opportunity to speak. and it's been just an incredibly engaging and informative set of discussions. did you get a sense that there was some anger or pushback? i think you were telling me before the show that some community college counselors were concerned about san jose state. >> yeah, i had spoken to some of the counselors. they didn't want to speak because they felt like they were unsure about the requirements and they just didn't want to speak to me because they said we haven't done the research, we don't know, and i have to look over everything first before i can talk to you. there was a mixed review.

i spoke to community college and parents and i saw both sides. counselors said i don't understand, i'm more confused, but i don't think it's fair. but on the other hand, community college parents saying, yeah, it's like the decision they have to make, but i understand where they are coming from because what can you do when you're faced with the reality of budget crisis and more people want to go to school because there is no work. and then the community college students also like the forums, because like he was telling me, he said it was a way for him to know what's going on in the future school he would like to come to, because he wants to apply later in the year. so he appreciated the forum. so i got to see both sides at the meeting. some people were angry, not pleased. >> some were angry, not pleased, and others were understanding. fair enough. dennis, that's a hard thing. >> yeah. >> because we all define it differently. how do you see it? >> the -- in higher education community, there's always been a preference for academic preparation and quality. in that sense, even our scholarship system, and based

upon merit, those students earn the highest. but there's also been a counter vailing concern for people that have been challenged all the way through the process, who may or may not have the same level of merit or preparation or academic qualification, but have every bit of a right to attend college in the end, avail themselves of those opportunities. it's always trying to balance those two competing. there's no one voice from the community, if we say we're going to lean too far this way. we hear from the other side every time. if you read the comment stream on the website, people say, yeah, keep going, good way to go. other people say, look what you're doing, you're wrecking our community, in terms of their future aspirations. it's a tough one. on campus, i'm sure faculty have been talking about this, deans of the college have been talking about it. as the director of a school, i know we have concerns that we don't want local people to feel unwelcome. yet the other side of it says our professions are so demanding, mom and dad, your son eric, if he goes to the field i mentioned, has to meet certain

standards and has to compete early in life, if he's going to do that for the rest of his life. does that cause any pause for you as a parent, to know that's what he's going to face? >> i think so. i think it does worry me. again, the economy, people are not working and going back to school and it makes it harder. i'm not sure. we're hoping that eric is prepared and ready and gets to go to school and do what he wants to do and he's ready for it. the fact that he's sitting here with us, i think he'll be more than ready. eric, i do hope you understand, these administrators and all of us here at the university are rooting for you. but we also have to be pragmatic. we have to be realistic. this is a facility, this is a campus, an opportunity, and i was always taught when i went to high school that college is an experience and a privilege. it's not something just to think, well, i'm entitled to it. do you think students understand

that? >> i'm not sure. you hear of people that you see them and you think, well, they are not ready, but they always talk about coming to college and like for me, i've always worked. i've worked hard to come to college, so for me, i feel that i should -- like, i've accomplished a lot to be here and i feel like i should be rewarded, or rewarding myself by attending. and when you hear that, bill, do you hear the reward is there because he's worked hard, and a lot of students out there have worked hard to get to san jose state or to other csu's, when we look to look at these practical decisions, though, how much of that reward is lost? >> i would like to say very little. and the kinds of comments that he was just making about what he's been looking at and working towards for all this time is

exactly what we like to hear and what we like to see. and those are very much the kinds of students that we think are going to be very successful when they get here. and so what we're really trying to do is to make sure that the students that have that drive that, have really worked and prepared early from junior high through high school and have set that as a goal all the way through, they will have done everything they needed to do. they will have no concerns and no worries in all likelihood of coming in. so it's -- that's exactly the kind of comment and student and applicant that we love to see and love to hear, because he's been paying attention to what he needs to do and what he needs, wants to do for many years all the way through. now, jessica, i wanted to ask you, from your perspective as a student and as a journalist, do you think that the media is not really doing a service by giving all of the information as clearly as

possible? >> i mean, yes and no. obviously, our job is to put accurate, correct information and concise information and make it easy for the readers to follow. but again, i feel like this issue is so much more, i want to say so much more than just the simple black and white. there is a lot of gray area with this issue. and there really is no clear-cut solution. again, i'm a current student and so i feel like when the president here admitted, oh, my gosh, what's going to happen to me getting the classes, what's happening to my classes, because that's more students adding to campus and taking up resources i could be using as a current student. so it just concerns me. like i said, it's this big gray area, but what do you do? i feel like, yes and no to that question. dennis, your thoughts? >> well, yeah. i think that from the public perception and as eric has

expressed, i gear myself toward getting accepted, being admitted. and that's step one of the process. but from our point of view, trying to manage a complex institution, it's not just getting in. it's moving through. and as you just pointed out, if you take a very large freshingman class, then the next year we have a very large sophomore class and you've got the bubble moving through the pipeline. >> keeps growing. >> keeps growing. because we've taken so many students because of our local area guarantee, we've always said we want you, please come, but when they all came at once last year, what that means now for next year's students, the ones coming in fall '12, only about 15% of what we can offer on campus will go to new students. 85% of what we're going to offer in terms of credit units and classes are all going to be moving that bubble from last year and the last couple years through to the end of the pipeline. and the public doesn't -- it wouldn't naturally think of that at home. like getting in the door was the goal and a good one, but here's jessica saying because you let

4000 in, it's going to be tough for me to graduate because you got to offer classes to the 4000 and there's only so many teachers and so many classrooms and that's what we're up against. again, that's a hard message to sell, because from the community point of view, it's a door. you get through the door and then you start. and it's kind of like-- >> when i talk to a university student and he felt, too, i mean, he has the same concerns as me, but he also felt pride. i mean, there's more pride in going to san jose state because, again, we are becoming a university where it is becoming -- i'm really proud now that i got in versus saying, oh, well, i knew i would get in. so it's nice to hear that, because then you have pride as a san jose student, as a current student. that student really told me, it makes me really proud of myself that i'm in this university, that a lot of people want to come to and people are having trouble getting in. i think one of the things that i have concerns about, bill, is retention. you know, making sure once they get in, they successfully get through the process, earn that degree and get out there and

have an opportunity. and retention certainly in certain cultural communities, it's been lower than we want. how will we try to address those? >> it's most critical after the first year. the first year retention rate from the transition from the freshmen to the sophomore is typically the biggest falloff, then there's a little bit that goes from there. and the more that we can make available, the classes that they need, the advising that they need, eric's coming in as an undeclared major, that's great in many ways because it says he wants the opportunity to figure out what he wants to explore and learn going forward, but we need to be able to have the mechanisms available to get him to talk with faculty such as yourself, to meet with advisors, to meet with counselors and other students and mentors so he can really have the chance to find the course that he wants to go, especially in his frosh year, because that's where the

most important decisions that some of those students will need to make. we hope we've convinced you that we're a faculty and a campus that will be inviting and help you all along. i want to thank all of you for being here today. and thank you for joining us for this edition of equal time.