CSUN Pares Figure on Unprepared Students

NORTHRIDGE —  More than 60% of the fall freshmen at Cal State Northridge in recent years have been judged unprepared to handle college-level English and math courses, campus officials said Thursday, acknowledging higher figures they issued earlier this week were inaccurate.

The new CSUN figures were confirmed Thursday by officials at the Cal State system headquarters in Long Beach. But the news still isn’t good, because even the revised CSUN rates are higher than those for the 20-campus system, where almost 50% of all freshmen are deemed unprepared.

CSUN Provost Louanne Kennedy said the figures the campus issued earlier this week, which showed about 80% of the freshman this fall have been required to take one or more remedial classes in math or English, had been mistakenly based on estimates, not actual numbers.

Meanwhile, she said urban campuses with higher minority enrollments such as CSUN typically fare worse in systemwide comparisons.

Many minority students, especially Latinos and Asians whose native language is not English, have difficulties on English exams and even math tests, which require reading and interpretive skills, educators say.

The issue of underprepared freshmen has gained prominence recently because Cal State trustees later this month will discuss whether to phase out the special remedial classes. Some trustees are complaining about the cost and argue that underprepared students instead should be attending community colleges.

According to CSUN and Cal State officials, 63.3% of Northridge’s entering freshmen in fall, 1993, failed a basic English placement exam. And 60.6% of the same entering class failed the math placement exam. The CSUN numbers for fall, 1994, were about 64% for both subjects, Kennedy said.

Students failing the tests are directed into special, below-college-level classes in English and math to boost their skills. Cal State officials estimate the system spends nearly $10 million a year on such programs. The entire Cal State system budget is more than $1.4 billion.