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Cal State L.A.’s Plan to Raise Admissions Standards Faces Pushback From Students, Faculty

Students walk on campus at California State University Los Angeles in an image posted to the school's Facebook page on Feb. 19, 2019.

Each year, thousands more qualified students apply to Cal State Los Angeles than the campus has the funding or space to accommodate. Now campus officials want to raise admissions standards and shrink the fall 2020 class.

If campus officials decide to do so and the Cal State chancellor’s office approves, Cal State L.A. will join six other Cal State campuses — Fresno, Fullerton, Long Beach, San Diego, San Jose and San Luis Obispo — that declared themselves “impacted,” meaning too many qualified applicants, and made similar changes.

The Cal State L.A. proposal would reduce the incoming class by 600 students and raise requirements for GPA and standardized test scores including the SAT and ACT for fall 2020. Departments also would be allowed to set more admissions criteria — evaluating high school coursework in a particular subject, for example, or assessing an art portfolio.

Students and faculty who oppose the proposal say it would change the culture of the campus and push admission further out of the reach of the disadvantaged students the Cal State system is meant to serve.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.

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