For years students from the central Valley have counted on getting into Fresno State. Whether it is their first choice or a back up plan, Fresno State has been a popular option for students who earned a 3.0 or higher in high school.

However, this will no longer be the case starting in the 2016-’17 academic year. Fresno State standards are changing. This is due to state issued education budget cuts and a steady increase in the amount of applications received by the university.

Jennifer Pagesmith, Outreach Counselor for Fresno State, gave the statistic that 19,000 applications were submitted just for Fall 2014, when Fresno State only has 6,400 open spots available for new students.

“Fresno State is planning to raise its admissions standards to help offset huge spikes in qualified local applicants,” Hannah Furfaro writes in an Fresno Bee article: “And for the first time in the university’s history, officials say they’ll reject at least 400 Valley students who apply to attend in 2016-17 – students who would have qualified under current standards.”

Hundreds of Valley students will need to look elsewhere for their college education and may lead to a huge rise in applications submitted to local community colleges. This follows the trend of several other CSU schools who have also experienced major impaction issues, such as CSU Long Beach.

Students whose GPA is below 3.0 will need to score even better on the ACT or SAT than was required previously. — Hannah Furfaro, Fresno Bee writer advises.

“Students whose GPA is below 3.0 will need to score even better on the ACT or SAT than was required previously,” Furaro writes. “The details haven’t been formalized, but Vinovrski says Fresno State’s admissions index, a scorecard that uses a student’s GPA and test scores to determine their eligibility, will increase by at least 200 points.”

In a recent email sent out by Jennifer Pagesmith, the proposed changes to the eligibility index were displayed (once again these numbers are not yet official).

2016-17 Proposed GPA/SAT Eligibility Index:

2.0GPA / 1500 SAT (VERBAL AND MATH)
2.5GPA / 1100 SAT (VERBAL AND MATH)
3.0GPA / 700 SAT (VERBAL AND MATH)

Another possible change that would affect transfer students is potentially raising the GPA requirement from 2.0 GPA to 2.2 GPA. This would encourage students to make up D’s or F’s at their local community college before applying to Fresno State.

Fresno State has assured high schools that they are continuing to work within the budget that has been allocated to them by the Governor of California. According to Fresno State President Joseph I. Castro at a recent CSF Regional Conference, the university is dedicated to serving the students of the central Valley and he encourages qualified students to apply to the many great programs Fresno State has to offer.

Despite the budget cuts and lower acceptance rates, the university continues to thrive in areas of technology, thriving academic programs, and a passionate teaching staff. I will continue to keep our students and parents up to date on the upcoming changes at Fresno State and the other CSU campuses.

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For another College Corner, read the Feb. 21 article, COLLEGE CORNER: College placement tests.