DATE: Sunday, March 9, 1997                 TAG: 9703090140

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  135 lines

PROPOSAL TIES COLLEGE AID TO GRADES LOW ACHIEVERS NOT HOLDING C AVERAGE SHOULD BE CUT, OFFICIAL SAYS

One in six students getting state financial-aid awards at Virginia's public institutions isn't maintaining a C average. The chairwoman of the State Council of Higher Education said it is time to purge many of those low achievers from the financial-aid rolls.

``What I'm advocating is the best use of very limited funds,'' said the chairwoman, Elizabeth A. McClanahan, an attorney from Abingdon. ``We should be reallocating those dollars to students who are serious about graduation and who are serious about achieving.''

Most colleges, she said, give students two to three semesters from the time they first get into academic trouble before withdrawing financial aid. So a student who gets, say, a D average in his first semester might have until the end of his sophomore year to raise it to an overall C before losing eligibility for aid.

As a result, $8.3 million - or 17 percent - of the $49.3 million that Virginia allotted for financial aid at public colleges last year went to students who were not sustaining a C average.

``I think taxpayers would be outraged'' to know the figures, McClanahan said in an interview last week. ``I believe that the standards should be far more stringent than that.''

The state council does not have the legal authority to institute across-the-board requirements on eligibility for state financial aid. Those decisions rest with each college.

But McClanahan is advocating guidelines, which have yet to be drawn. Because the council's voice carries weight in Richmond, the universities could face public and political pressure to conform to such a policy.

McClanahan first raised the issue at the agency's monthly meeting at

Longwood College, in Farmville, on Monday. She said last week that she expected the council to further discuss the matter, and perhaps consider a proposed policy, at its next meeting, in April.

What exactly it will say remains unclear. McClanahan said she wasn't sure whether she would advocate taking a below-C student off financial aid immediately, or allowing the student a semester or two to boost the average. But in any case, she said, the guidelines would be more stringent than the policies of most Virginia colleges.

McClanahan holds an ideological majority on the council, so the proposal is likely to get a sympathetic hearing from her fellow members. But it is raising opposition from college officials and from the agency's longtime director.

``I think it would be detrimental to some degree because the student needs that first year to make that transition coming to college,'' said Estherine J. Harding, the financial-aid director at Norfolk State University. ``In many instances, they are living away from their parents for the first time, in a less-structured environment. After that first year, they get acclimated and understand they need to work hard to make good grades. . . .

``I just believe students should be given the opportunity.''

Norfolk State, she said, recently strengthened its eligibility requirements for aid: Students must maintain a 1.5 average - halfway between a C and a D - in their freshman year, but they must raise that to a C by the end of their sophomore year.

Gordon K. Davies, the director of the state council, also believes in allowing students some leeway before denying them financial aid: ``I personally think we need to be enormously tolerant of people's having difficulties when they start, as long as they meet the standard by the time they finish. I don't think we're wasting money if we give them a chance to try.''

At Old Dominion University's Webb Center on Friday, juniors Regina Echols and Exzelle Johnson said they support a tougher standard. Johnson is getting aid from the state, and Echols has in the past. Both have averages much higher than a C.

``I think a lot of people take advantage because standards are really low,'' said Johnson, an information systems major. ``They think it's OK to slack off because they have so much time to make it up.''

Said Echols, a business management major: ``They always talk about how tight the budget is. I think they should save the money for people who really, really work hard.'' If Echols were deciding, the cutoff would be closer to a B, not a C.

The state proposal isn't expected to affect eligibility for federal aid. Federal rules require that recipients progress toward a C average by the time of graduation, but leave the details to the schools, Davies said.

The issue came to the fore at the state council with the release last week of a study pinpointing the grade-point averages of recipients of state financial aid.

The report showed that 17 percent of aid recipients at state-supported four-year colleges - and 19 percent at community colleges - last year had averages below a 2.0, or a C.

Among four-year schools, Virginia State University and Virginia Military Institute had the largest proportion of aid recipients with less than a C: 35 percent and 33 percent, respectively. James Madison University and the College of William and Mary had the least, at 5 percent each.

Old Dominion and Norfolk State both had less than the state average: 15 percent and 12 percent, respectively.

The attention to the issue reflects growing frustration, from kindergarten through college, about mediocre student performance across the region - and the nation. In Virginia Beach, the School Board recently adopted a policy to phase in a 2.0 requirement for participation in interscholastic activities, such as athletics, chorus and band, in middle and high school.

The discussion about financial aid comes after the General Assembly recently rebuffed the state council's request for more aid money. The agency argued that only 35 percent of the financial need of Virginia students is being met. Legislators felt there was no urgency to spend more on aid while the colleges are under a tuition freeze, which lasts through next year.

McClanahan said, ``We think the state should be meeting 50 percent of the need. Since we're not able to do that, I believe those dollars should be given to those students who prove themselves to be serious about studying.''

Davies, the state council's director, said the statistics show that students sometimes need time to get in gear: While 28 percent of freshmen on state aid don't have a C, the proportion gradually falls until the senior year, when it is 8 percent.

``What's most significant to me is that most of the students who have difficulty have it in the first year,'' he said. ``It just goes down as time goes on. . . . By the time they get to be seniors, of course you expect them to have a 2.0 average, and substantially over 90 percent do.''

Old Dominion University has a less stringent eligibility policy than does Norfolk State: A 1.5 average is needed after the first year. The scale goes up, but reaches 2.0 only at the time of graduation.

That, said Dana D. Burnett, vice president of student services, offers flexibility to students who transfer from community college. ``Shouldn't they be permitted to have some time to adjust to senior-level college work?'' he asked. ``Yes, we should have standards, but we also need to recognize the diversity of our students.''

David W. Breneman, a researcher of college finances who is dean of the University of Virginia's Curry School of Education, raised another fear: that a tighter policy might encourage grade inflation. ``It puts pressure on a professor to make sure people get better grades,'' he said, ``because no professor wants to cause someone to lose a scholarship.''

But the ODU students think the reverse: It would encourage students to work harder, ``they'd get more focused in school,'' Echols said. ILLUSTRATION: Graphics

THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT

WHO IS GETTING FINANCIAL AID?

Breakdown by class

SOURCE: State Council of Higher Education

[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]

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