"We're doing all we can to get students in here." On June 3, Mississippi Valley and the state's seven other public universities launched a nine-week Summer Developmental Program for students who did not meet all of the criteria for admission to one of the institutions.
But just a week before Mississippi Valley's program was set to begin, only 18 students had applied to Valley's program, said Dr. Maxine Rush director of admissions at the university, out of about 150 students who qualified.
During the summer program, Mississippi students are "expected to overcome four years of deficiencies," says Hudson. "The standards have been summarily raised, but who's looking at improving the preparation of students in K-12? Without that, you can't expect changes to come overnight."
If the new standards had been in place during the 1994-95 academic year, more than 40 percent of Valley's students would have fallen Into the state's new "conditional admissions category," contends Hudson.
A year ago the students being tapped for the summer developmental program would have been admitted, said Rush, but "in 1996, they are having to go through summer courses."
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