Law would be nation's first requiring college applications
By AP, Published May 11, 2007

POLAND, Maine (AP) — Mary Clemons had no inten­tion of going to college after completing high school last year, and she was not pleased when her high school told her she had to complete a college application and submit it.

Now enrolled in Central Maine Community College (CMCC), where she’s studying to be a medical assistant, Clemons has a far different view of policies that go beyond just encouraging and facilitating applications for higher education.

The policy at Poland Regional High School, where a grant provides all high school seniors with $20 to go toward application fees, inspired legislation to make high school seniors at least fill out applications for higher education.

A number of individual schools in Texas, Pennsyl­vania and other states have adopted application re­quirements. And some states—including Maine—are using college admissions tests as part of their student assessment programs.

But none has yet adopted a statewide requirement that students fill out college applications, said David Hawkins, public policy director for the National As­sociation for College Admission Counseling.

The bill in Maine’s legislature is simple—only 43 words—and has strong sponsorship. State House Speaker Glenn Cummings brings credibility on the issue as a for­mer teacher. The Education Committee, which Cummings previously chaired, voted unanimously to recommend passage, and the state House of Representatives passed it without debate. It won initial Senate approval last month and awaits final votes in both chambers.

The idea has also drawn support from Gov. John Bal­dacci, who like other state officials has recognized that Maine lags other states in college graduation rates.

“I think the idea fits in with our efforts for all students to be prepared for college, career and citizenship,” Baldacci said. “Hopefully, it will increase aspirations and give more students the opportunity to make col­lege a choice.”

Poland high senior Elizabeth Hubbard, 17, said it does more than that. Despite her parents’ encouraging her to attend college, Hubbard said she was “a little rebellious” at first. But now that she’s gone through the process, she’s grateful for the must-apply requirement.

“It’s helped to focus a career path,” said Hubbard, who applied to 11 higher education institutions in and out of the state. She wants to become an English teacher.

“In our school, they push you to find what you’re in­terested in,’’ said Keene, who like Hubbard will become the first one in his family to go to college. As for the statewide legislation, “I say go for it,” said Keene. “Col­lege is really important. Most kids don’t realize it.”

Not everybody buys into the application mandate.

Andrew Bryan, an educational consultant in Baker City, Ore., calls mandating the application process a “short cut to what really needs to happen, and what really makes an impact—namely, more resources dedi­cated to counseling and mentoring of students.”

Bryan said he’s learned over the years that the more independent students are in the college application process, the more likely they are to be admitted to the college of their choice and to be successful.

“If I were to mandate anything it would be to have every sophomore or junior in Maine spend two days and a night at a college campus,” Bryan said by e-mail. “Try that and I’ll bet they’ll mostly then want to fill out applications.”

If the idea for a statewide requirement was born at Poland high, it was nurtured by Maine’s new way to measure student achievement, which gave everybody in Augusta an unexpected lesson in raising aspirations.

After Maine became the first state to use SATs in­stead of the state’s own tests as an academic measur­ing stick for high school juniors, education officials expected to see a slip in scores. But they noticed last December that the drop was less than expected—sug­gesting that more Maine kids than previously thought had college potential.