Report 2015-107 Recommendation 3 Responses
Report 2015-107: The University of California: Its Admissions and Financial Decisions Have Disadvantaged California Resident Students (Release Date: March 2016)
Recommendation #3 To: University of California
To ensure that campuses' interpretations of admission standards do not adversely impact residents, the university should implement a thorough process to annually evaluate the qualifications of students who apply and students who are admitted. These evaluations should highlight instances when campuses admit nonresidents who are less qualified than residents and should include corrective action steps. Moreover, this evaluation should include resident and nonresident undergraduate enrollment in majors at each campus. The university should make the results of this evaluation—including details of the academic qualifications of students who applied and who were admitted—publicly available.
Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2021
Characteristics of applicants, admits, and enrollees is available here and the weighted, capped GPA is one of the metrics provided:
https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/freshman-admissions-summary
As previously communicated, the results of the admission process and who is admitted is the outcome of the full evaluation of all applicants.
With no change to report for this period, UC maintains partial implementation as the final status on this recommendation.
https://ucop.edu/operating-budget/_files/legreports/20-21/data_on_nonresident_student_admission_legrpt.pdf
- Estimated Completion Date: Ongoing
California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Partially Implemented
Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From November 2020
Characteristics of applicants, admits, and enrollees is available here and the weighted, capped GPA is one of the metrics provided:
https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/freshman-admissions-summary
As previously communicated, the results of the admission process and who is admitted is the outcome of the full evaluation of all applicants.
With no change to report for this period, UC maintains partial implementation as the final status on this recommendation.
https://www.ucop.edu/operating-budget/budgets-and-reports/legislative-reports/data_on_nonresident_student_admission_fall2019.pdf
- Estimated Completion Date: Ongoing
California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Partially Implemented
The UC has only partially implemented this recommendation. In this response, the UC references its freshman admissions summary, which does not compare the qualifications of nonresident to residents, as we recommended. The UC also references its legislative report, which does not include several other aspects of the recommendation, including corrective action, enrollment in majors at each campus, or the academic qualifications of students who applied and who were admitted. In past responses to this recommendation, the UC has referenced its compare favorably report, which also does not include many aspects of this recommendation. This recommendation will not be fully implemented until the UC implements a process to evaluate the qualifications of students who apply and students who are admitted, including all of the elements of this recommendation.
Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From November 2019
Characteristics of applicants, admits, and enrollees is available here and the weighted, capped GPA is one of the metrics provided:
https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/freshman-admissions-summary
The results of the admission process and who is admitted is the outcome of the full evaluation of all applicants. The weighted, capped GPA referenced in the CSA response is used for UC eligibility purposes. For a more fair comparison of residents to nonresidents, the unweighted GPA is the appropriate measure as nonresidents do not have A-G approved course lists and may not have access to or adoption of honors and advanced placement courses that are comparable to the California context. At the request of the legislature, additional metrics on median statistics were also included for the legislative report that are not part of the annual BOARS report referenced in #1.
https://ucop.edu/operating-budget/_files/legreports/18-19/data_on_nonresident_student_admission_legrpt_071519.pdf
- Completion Date: July 2019
California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Partially Implemented
The UC has only partially implemented this recommendation. In this response, the UC references its freshman admissions summary, which does not compare the qualifications of nonresident to residents, as we recommended. The UC also references its legislative report, which does not include several other aspects of the recommendation, including corrective action, enrollment in majors at each campus, or the academic qualifications of students who applied and who were admitted. In past responses to this recommendation, the UC has referenced its compare favorably report, which also does not include many aspects of this recommendation. This recommendation will not be fully implemented until the UC implements a process to evaluate the qualifications of students who apply and students who are admitted, including all of the elements of this recommendation.
- Auditee did not substantiate its claim of full implementation
- Auditee did not address all aspects of the recommendation
Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2018
The applicants are evaluated for admission based on a wide range of academic and contextual indicators. The Academic Senate provides an annual outcomes report with the academic qualifications of resident and nonresident students admitted to UC by campus. Where available, measures of student academic success (first year GPA, retention rates, and probation rates) are also provided. The report can be found here: https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/committees/boars/boarscomparefavorably2017.pdf
Under the University's "comprehensive review" policy, students applying to UC campuses are assessed for admission using multiple measures of achievement and promise while considering the context in which each applicant demonstrated academic accomplishment. No criterion, including high school GPA or standardized test score is given a specific weight in the decision process, nor is any criterion considered sufficient to appropriately admit or reject an applicant's request for admission. Assessment of qualifications for admission go beyond relying exclusively on GPA and test scores. Comprehensive review provides campuses with the latitude to conduct a more thorough review of every freshman, both resident and nonresident. With this in mind, the GPA most appropriate for comparison purposes of these two populations is the unweighted GPA given the educational context and availability, or lack thereof, of courses granted extra points in the GPA calculation for statewide eligibility.
As noted in the response to item #1, GPA and test scores provide an incomplete picture of an applicant's academic achievements demonstrated through other non-quantifiable measures. While the Compare Favorably policy communicates a clear message to campuses about its expectation that nonresidents applicants who are admitted have stronger qualifications than residents, BOARS is confident that all campuses are making a concerted effort to comply with this policy.
- Completion Date: June 2017
California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Partially Implemented
The university has only partially implemented this recommendation. Specifically, our recommendation stated that the university should evaluate the qualifications of students who apply as well as students who are admitted. The BOARS report referenced in the response only includes the qualifications of admitted students. Further, the BOARS report only includes unweighted GPAs, rather than weighted GPAs. As we stated in our 2016 audit, when evaluating applications, the university uses weighted GPAs that give students extra points for grades C or better in honors or advanced placement courses. Thus, we would expect the BOARS report to include weighted GPAs. Finally, even though the BOARS report highlights several instances where campuses have admitted nonresidents with lower GPAs than residents, the report includes no corrective action steps.
- Auditee did not substantiate its claim of full implementation
Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From November 2017
In June 2017, the UC Academic Senate posted a revised report on its website that presents the relative, average academic qualifications of resident and nonresident students admitted to UC by campus. In addition, this new report provides, where available, measures of student academic success (first year GPA, retention rates, and probation rates), categorized by residency status and campus. This report applies to Fall 2016 admissions cycle, the last year for which data are available. This new report can be found on the Academic Senate at the following address: http://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/committees/boars/BOARS-2016-Compare-Favorably-Report.pdf. The Academic Senate will continue to report these data on an annual basis.
- Completion Date: June 2017
California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Partially Implemented
The university has only partially implemented this recommendation. Specifically, our recommendation stated that the university should evaluate the qualifications of students who apply as well as students who are admitted. The BOARS report referenced in the response only includes the qualifications of admitted students. Further, the BOARS report only includes unweighted GPAs, rather than weighted GPAs. As we stated in our 2016 audit, when evaluating applications, the university uses weighted GPAs that give students extra points for grades C or better in honors or advanced placement courses. Thus, we would expect the BOARS report to include weighted GPAs. Finally, even though the BOARS report highlights several instances where campuses have admitted nonresidents with lower GPAs than residents, the report includes no corrective action steps.
- Auditee did not substantiate its claim of full implementation
1-Year Agency Response
The University and its Academic Senate are committed to ensuring that no campus admits nonresidents who are—on average and when evaluated across the broad set of criteria UC uses—less qualified than residents admitted to that campus. Compliance with this policy is evaluated each year by the Academic Senate and the results of that compliance review are posted publicly on the Academic Senate website.
Recognizing the desirability of even greater transparency in this area, the University administration is developing a new report that displays the relative qualifications of admitted resident and nonresident applicants, disaggregated by campus. The University plans to issue its first report (covering admitted students for Fall 2016) when final enrollment data for the 2016-17 academic year are available—most likely by June 2017. Moreover, as described in UC's response to Recommendation 1, the President requested that the Academic Senate review its "compare favorably" policy to ensure that it is consistent with the University comprehensive review admissions policies and the Master Plan. The Senate's Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS) is collecting additional data to determine if there are other measures of academic performance that better illustrate UC's commitment to California residents.
- Estimated Completion Date: June 2017
- Response Date: March 2017
California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Pending
The university advised that it is continuing to develop a new report to display the relative qualifications of admitted resident and nonresident applicants, disaggregated by campus. The university's previous response noted a likely completion date of February 2017; however, this date was revised to June 2017.
As noted previously, the status of this recommendation is pending until the university issues the first report that displays the qualifications of admitted resident and nonresident applicants.
6-Month Agency Response
See attached
- Estimated Completion Date: Spring 2017
- Response Date: August 2016
California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending
In its attachment, the university stated that it will develop a new report that displays the relative qualifications of admitted resident and nonresident applicants, disaggregated by campus. The university stated that it plans to design this new report over the coming months and to issue its first report (covering admitted students for Fall 2016) when final enrollment data for the 2016-17 academic year are available—most likely by February 2017.
Therefore, the status of this recommendation is pending until the university issues the first report that displays the qualifications of admitted resident and nonresident applicants.
60-Day Agency Response
Sent as attachment
- Estimated Completion Date: Spring 2017
- Response Date: May 2016
California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending
In its attachment, the university stated that it will develop a new report that displays the relative qualifications of admitted resident and nonresident applicants, disaggregated by campus. The university stated that it plans to design this new report over the coming months and to issue its first report (covering admitted students for Fall 2016) when final enrollment data for the 2016-17 academic year are available—most likely by February 2017.
The status of this recommendation is pending until the university issues the first report that displays the qualifications of admitted resident and nonresident applicants.
All Recommendations in 2015-107
Agency responses received are posted verbatim.