Is it true what they say about Arizona state colleges?????????? (home, law school)

[charliemark]

Is it true that a student obtaining a 3.0 gpa or better gets a nearly free ride to Arizona State colleges and universities?

[desert student]

UMMMM......NO.

I am currently at ASU, and can tell you first hand that I have not found a single student who has obtained a free ride just because they had a 3.0. Maybe in certain situation I am sure it has happened, but not based on the GPA alone. The thing about Arizona, that differs from my home state of Illinois, if the fact that ASU is by far the bigget university in the state and pulls a student body from all sorts of academic backgrounds. In Illinois, there are many universities to choose from. Obviously some colleges are higher performing than others, and attract certain types of students based on that. At ASU I find that since everyone goes here, you have all kinds of "over" and "under" achievers put under one campus. It isn't that ASU is only for the 4.0s or the 2.5s. So no! Just because our student bodies are very diverse in a "GPA" sense, they don't really reward new students with free rides. But then it is all in the context in how you approach it so I guess it really doesn't matter. I think ASU is a great school, and has been an excellent extension and transition from my prior academic studies while in Chicago.

[Greatday]

Originally Posted by charliemark

Is it true that a student obtaining a 3.0 gpa or better gets a nearly free ride to Arizona State colleges and universities?

The proposal yesterday, by the Governor, was for Community College - not university.

BTW, it won't pass

[aj661]

Originally Posted by Greatday

The proposal yesterday, by the Governor, was for Community College - not university.

BTW, it won't pass

I don't think so either. The other plan sounded pretty good though...not raising a student's tuition once they are enrolled. (As long as it's for a reasonable time, maybe five years max. Not for "professional" students like my ex-brother in law who managed to stay in college for about 12 years!)

[artvandelay]

This proposal won't pass. A money-strapped state and county won't give up revenue, even for societal benefit. Also, from what I hear, many schools are so bad that just showing up gets you a B. That would be lots of free college to hand out.

[lola8822]

There is a "Tuition Waver" however, that only helps you if you are still in High School. Sorry.

[londonbarcelona]

Originally Posted by artvandelay

This proposal won't pass. A money-strapped state and county won't give up revenue, even for societal benefit. Also, from what I hear, many schools are so bad that just showing up gets you a B. That would be lots of free college to hand out.

The saddest thing is that MOST of Arizona's schools are HORRIBLE! Unless you can get into a top performing school, I would not send any of my kids to an Arizona school. That includes the universities.

[sheena]

Originally Posted by charliemark

Is it true that a student obtaining a 3.0 gpa or better gets a nearly free ride to Arizona State colleges and universities?

If a student excels on the AIMS test they get free tuition. That's been in place but Nappy is trying to put her own spin on it.

[uconn99]

Arizona State actually has a great business school (Supply chain program #3 in country I believe) and a very good engineering school. The MBA program isn't too shabby either.

[miamiman]

No, I think the only benefit of being high ranking in your class (top 10%) is guaranteed admission into any state school in Arizona. Keep in mind that this arrangement is for Arizona residents only.

That said, there are relatively few in state colleges and universities to choose from. The only major universities are Northern Arizona, Arizona State, and the University of Arizona. All schools in the state, especially Arizona State, have been trying to improve national rankings and respect. Arizona State has had a huge party school image since at least the 1980s, which it is trying to overshadow by improving its academic programs. As Arizona quickly adds population there is a push by ASU to truly become the primary state university in Arizona. There is a plan for ASU to have 90,000 students total by 2030, up from about 52,000 now. ASU is known by many as a school with very lenient admissions requirements for many of its programs. The fact that the university is planning to serve 90,000 students less than 25 years from now doesn't provide any evidence that the school will tighten its admissions requirements.

U of A, on the other hand, has much less of a party school reputation, and is a school with some world class programs. The schools of Hydrology and Astronomy, among several others, are top ranked, and the law school isn't far behind. Somehow I get the vibe the U of A is where many of the "academically serious" kids who don't leave Arizona go to school. There are many students who get into ASU, but don't get into U of A. U of A has about 15,000-20,000 fewer students than ASU. As far as I know, the university does not have plans at drastic as ASU to increase enrollment. Therefore, U of A will likely remain a more selective institution.