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Equity Scorecard
“Access” Focal Points and Recommendations
Submitted by the Equity Scorecard Team: Rich Lane and Susan Turell, co-chairs; Carey Childers, Rogers
Laugand, Rose Logue, Cahndice Matthews, Jimmy McGee, Miguel Olivas-Lujan
10.11.12
The charge of the Equity Scorecard team focuses on 4 areas: Access, Retention, Completion, and Excellence.
We have been asked to analyze available Clarion University data, identify areas where an equity gap exists,
and make recommendations for strategies to close those gaps. We identified four focal efforts related to
Access. Although the numbers are small for focal effort D, we included it since the strategies suggested for
focal effort A can and should be applied to both populations. We included focal area B, with small numbers,
since the data shows that once African-American transfer students are accepted, they enroll in larger
proportion than the norm.

Focal Effort A
Focal Effort: Close Equity Gap in African American Acceptance Rate.
Equity Gap: The acceptance rate for African American students is 49.7%, which is 26.3
percentage points below the average acceptance rate of 76%. This difference represents a
loss of 149 African American students during the admission process. As a result the share
of African Americans shrinks to 10.1% among accepted students from a share of 15.5% in
the admission pool.

Equity Goal A
Evaluation

Baseline

Goal 1

Goal 2

Equity

Indicator

Fall 2010

Fall 2013

Fall 2014

Fall 2015

African American
Acceptance Rate

49.7%

56%

65%

76%

African American
Acceptance by
Number

281

316

367

429

Focal Effort B
Focal Effort: Close Equity Gap in African American Acceptance Rate (Transfer Students).
Equity Gap: The acceptance rate for African American students is 60.7% which is 15.3
percentage points below the average acceptance rate of 76%. This difference represents a
loss of 7 African American students during the admission process. As a result the share of
African Americans shrinks to 12.4% among accepted students from a share of 15.6% in the
admission pool.

Equity Goal B
Evaluation

Baseline

Goal 1

Goal 2

Equity

Indicator

Fall 2010

Fall 2013

Fall 2014

Fall 2015

African American
Acceptance Rate

60.7%

64.3%

71.4%

76%

African American
Acceptance by
Number

17

18

20

22

Focal Effort C
Focal Effort: Close Equity Gap in African American Enrollment Rate.
Equity Gap: The enrollment rate for African American students is 36.3% which is 12.7
percentage points below the average enrollment rate of 49%. This difference represents a
loss of 36 African American students during the enrollment process. As a result the share of
African Americans shrinks to 7.5% among enrolled students from a share of 10.1% in the
acceptance pool.

Equity Goal C
Evaluation

Baseline

Goal 1

Goal 2

Equity

Indicator

Fall 2010

Fall 2013

Fall 2014

Fall 2015

African American
Enrollment Rate

36.3%

39%

43%

49%

African American
Enrolled by
Number

102

123

158

180

Focal Effort D
Focal Effort: Close Equity Gap in Hispanic/Latino Enrollment Rate.
Equity Gap: The enrollment rate for Hispanic/Latino students is 38.8% which is 10.2
percentage points below the average enrollment rate of 49%. This difference represents a
loss of 5 Hispanic/Latino students during the enrollment process. As a result the share of
African Americans shrinks to 1.4% among enrolled students from a share of 1.8% in the
acceptance pool.

Equity Goal D
Evaluation

Baseline

Goal 1

Goal 2

Equity

Indicator

Fall 2010

Fall 2013

Fall 2014

Fall 2015

Hispanic/Latino
Enrolled Rate

38.8%

41%

45%

49%

Hispanic/Latino
Enrolled by
Number

19

20

22

24

Recommendations to the Office of Admissions & Financial Services in coordination with the
Office of Minority Student Services and Alumni Relations Office (Focal Points A, C, & D)


Examine criteria for and simplify admit categories



Intentional inclusion of key offices to make personal contacts with African-American and Latino
students in the form of:
 The Office of Admissions and Financial Services should submit and distribute an
Yearly Plan of Enrollment, which outlines recruitment, access and enrollment
strategies for both Clarion University and Venango College, with specific
strategies for African American and Latino students
 Develop and implement of a more holistic approach to admission, including
holistic criteria
 Acceptance Letters followed-up by personal, intentional follow-up- In-person and by phone
 Individually and in groups
 Community/on-site workshops offered regarding Financial Aid information,
assistance completing FAFSA form
 Assistance regarding housing information and process for application
 Minority Student Services information and connection to office
 Intentional inclusion of African American and Latino alumni to make contact with
applicants
 Intentional inclusion of African American and Latino students, who are currently
at Clarion, to make contact with applicants
 Analysis and redesign of both the Financial Aid web-site and Admissions website to make each less text heavy and more user friendly

Recommendations to the Office of Admissions & Financial Services in coordination with the
Office of Minority Student Services (Focal Point B)


Identify reasons for incomplete applications and develop strategies to get them to become
‘complete’ (or modify policies regarding definition of ‘complete’)



Modify transfer website to become more welcoming and less text heavy



Include specific plans for recruitment of Af-Am transfer students. (Since complete Af-Am
student apps that are accepted are disproportionately enrolled at Clarion)
 Identify where current schools from which we get apps
 Intentional plan for recruitment developed as sub-plan of overall recruitment plan

(The numbers of Af Am transfer apps that were rejected for academic reasons were very small N’s;
e.g., 4 in 2012. Therefore, no need for recommendations related to holistic admissions)

Recommendation to SUA to support all Access focal efforts
 “Regular” busses to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh offered to all students