Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

South >Caro 1 iniana/*Library I Horseshoe H ^bfn,e^c'a^ Enrollment down, freshman standards up By Susan Muir Although the 1981 and 1982 freshman classes are almost the same size , overall enrollment at USC has declined, a USC official said. Around 2,200 freshmen enrolled in bachelor's degree programs this year, which is almost the same number as last year. But because the university admitted about 500 fewer freshmen in 1980 and 1981 than it did in 1979, total enrollment has shrunk, John Bolin, director of admissions, said. TTSC rifHMdpri to out hark pnrollmpnt in 1980 to keep educational quality high to compensate for the Legislature's cutback on school funding. Bolin said the university wouldn't reduce the freshman class size every year, because if enrollment continues to drop, it eventually would diminish to zero. Because each of the freshman classes from 1980-1982 have had 500 fewer students, the total university enrollment has reduced by 500 each year. RAI IXI CAin hp pvnppk thp nnmhpr nf freshmen admitted to USC next year to be about the same as this year. The university doesn't need to cut freshman enrollment further to reduce overall enrollment because other factors also reduce class size, he said. Bolin said the university has tightened its admission requirements and suspension policy during the past few years, making it "harder to get in and harder to stay in" the university. He said two years ago a student had to pass only half of his classes to remain in school. Now if a student has more than 24 credits without a 2.0 GPR, the student is suspended. Because of the new policy,-10 to 15 percent of all students each year are suspended. ANOTHER FACTOR that is decreasing class size is the freshman dropout rate. Bolin said around 30 percent of the freshmen will not return for their sophomore year. He said some leave USC because they don't like college, while others transfer to other schools. USC is also decreasing the number of transfer and readmittance students, Bolin said, thereby adding to the decreasing overall enrollment. The university faculty decided to decrease enrollment when the state Legislature reduced school funding. Bolin said the faculty didn't want the educational quality to go down by increasing the number of students in each classroom. He said the state contributes an allotted amount of monev oer student to USC. The Wk ^^^'Tir ^^wBB^wrlr ' ^3H mfik ^ HH S ' v\. 11^ Dr. Peter Hermes, West German ambassador this weekend to participate in seminars with i faculty from USC's international pronrams. amount contributed depends on the student (the university gets different amounts of money for law students, full-time students, part-time students and graduate students). This money makes up the difference be tween tuition costs and the actual cost for a student to attend USC. To keep the quality of education high despite decreased state funding, the university decided to decrease total enrollment, he said. RHMM ?Ain ITSP aHmitc ctnriontc hv evaluating Scholastic Aptitude Test scores and class rank. Class rank counts 50 percent, the SAT verbal score counts 30 percent and the SAT math score counts 20 percent in the evaluation process. Eighty percent of the freshmen accepted are South Carolinians, and 20 percent are from other states, Bolin said, adding that the 80-20 ratio has been the general rule during the past 20 years. "You don't take out-of-state students at the state's expense," he said. He said that because state colleges accept in-state students urst, tne out-oi-state students compete more. It may be harder for them to be accepted, although the admission requirements for them are the same as for South Carolinians. Bolin said the 1982 freshman class is smarter, statistically, than past classes. Bolin expects the average SAT score for the bachelor's degree freshman to be about five points higher than the 1981 average of 955. The 1982 average SAT score for freshmen in the College of Applied Sciences (General Studies) has increased around 20 points from the 1981 score. ACCORDING TO S.C. Department of Education figures, the S.C. average SAT ,,inn tn 1 en acuic is diuuuu Jiuu IU IJU puiuu> uciuw uic national average, but Bolin said "the state as a whole has pretty low SAT scores, because traditionally S.C. is rural. South Carolina is not a real strong college-oriented state." National and state SAT scores have declined over the past five years, but Bob Moore, coordinator of the Department of Education, said the scores now are moving back up. He said the scores fell because more students take the test, since more colleges require it. In the past only the toughest colleges required SAT scores, but now almost all colleges use SAT for judging a student's potential capability in college. The more heterogenous group of students taking the test pull scores down, since not all students have enough experience with the j See "Freshman," page five " ^ + A I ! I I Ambassador West German ambassadc Peter Hermes will visit USC seminars with students and members from USC's intern Hermes also will attend 1 dinner in his honor with uni and state officials and execul ficers of West German compa South Carolina, according t West German firms are the foreign investors in South Ci representing almost one-third foreign investment in the state. THE AMBASSADOR anc President Dr. James Holderm are scheduled to attend a match Saturday between th varsity team and' the? West C Military Soccer Club of Wash Before becoming ambassado United States in Novembei Hermes served as state secre the German Federal Foreign C , will visit USC His responsibilities includ students and ternational economic development aid policy, Ei freshmen enrollment * Figures for'7i 3,000 2,750 \ 2.500 2,250 2,000 1.750 1*500 1,250 1000 750 800 * * 250 77 70 79 Average SAT score for entering freshmen PE 1000 ' ? -IS 975 980 - . j. 900 875 850 825 800 776 750 725 700 p. 675 * ? 850 '77 '78 '79 to visit USC, particij economic integration, international cooperation in the field of nuclear >F -?r' research and the peaceful use of Friday nuclear energy, as well as external ate in cultural policy. faculty ational headed German delegations at the UNCTAD conferences in Nairobi a USC anc* Mamla, and at the general conversity ference of UNESCO, and he Hve of- represented his country at ministerial inies in council meetings of the European 0 USC Community and in the European Parliament. He was also head of the largest German delegation to the Law of the irolina, Sea Conference. 1 of all BEFORE HIS PROMOTION to state secretary in 1975, Hermes was 1 (JSC head of the Foreign Ministry's an aicn department of external economic soccer policy, development aid policy and e USC European economic integration. He Jerman was a*s0 chairman of the OECD trade tington, committee and deputy chairman of his country's delegation on the rtothe German-Soviet economic comr 1979, mission. itary in Previously, from 1965 to 1973, he office in served as director of western economic relations and as amled in- bassadaor atMarge charged with policy, negotiating trade agreements with iropean the Eastern European countries and f and '79 two-year degree program unavailable. 4 year degree n. program 2 year degree program _ _ *? ? 00 '81 82 * estimated 4y?ar degree program 2 yeer degree program 'tin 'in 'a* MW V ? ?? | pate in seminars China, as well as the offset agreements with the United States and Britain. From 1956 to 1965, Hermes served with the Consulates General in San Fransisco and Basel, with the German embassy to the Holy See, Rome, and with the German mission to the OECD, Paris. Hermes was born in Berlin on Aug. 8, 1922. As a law student he was called up to serve in the German army in 1941. He was taken prisoner of war by the Russians in 1945 and released after five years in 1950. He then resumed his studies and received his doctorate in 1952. In 1953 he joined the diplomatic service. inside ^ ii/: u ^ i? *:~ ? i i i _ i i . - rr mi eietuu/is strieuuiea less man a week awa . the 1982 Homecoming court had not been named Tuesday. Page three. ? Town Theatre begins its stage season Friday with "The Sound of Music." Page 11. The National Football League Players Association strike has left the remainder of the season's schedule in question. Page 13.