Next year, the University of Minnesota will admit approximately 300 fewer transfer students. The justification Robert McMaster, the UniversityâÄôs dean of undergraduate education, gives for that decision is that having fewer transfer students will mean that each one will be able to have more resources and attention devoted to him or her.
This is the wrong way to solve the UniversityâÄôs lack of resources for transfer students. As a land-grant public university, the University of Minnesota should be committed to providing access to a higher education for every qualified person in the state. Admitting fewer students is moving in the wrong direction.
Most of the UniversityâÄôs transfer students come from the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system . If students spend two years in that system and are successful, they should be allowed to transfer to the University of Minnesota; if they arenâÄôt, the University isnâÄôt serving the state or its population.
The right way to deal with a lack of resources for transfer students is to increase the amount of resources devoted to them, not reduce the number of transfer students. The administration will undoubtedly claim budgetary restrictions prevent them from doing so, but there are plenty of resources currently tied up in administration that could be redirected to front-line services for transfer students.
If the University is going to increase tuition every year, forcing many poorer students to attend two-year colleges and universities to complete their general requirements, there needs to be a place for them here when they finish. Having transfer students is an important method of improving access, and reducing their number is a move in the wrong direction.