CSU East Bay bills itself as a university where “All your possibilities come into view.” Year in and year out, thousands of students apply here hoping that CSUEB allows them the opportunity to begin their undergraduate career.

According to institutional data for the academic school year that began in Fall 2011, 1,178 freshmen were admitted here.

According to the same data, 565 of those same freshmen were admitted with a grade point average (GPA) below 3.0.

Among the incoming class, 71 students, or six percent, had a high school GPA below 2.5 and two students were admitted with GPA’s below 2.0.

As a result, the university offered 17 remedial math and English classes last Fall for students who did not pass their collegiate placement tests. Another 15 remedial courses were offered in the Winter and 13 in the Spring.

In the Fall alone, those 17 remedial courses, or 600 classroom spots, were filled by students who did not receive adequate high school level education.

We at The Pioneer believe that the remedial programs offered here are an important part of our community. But the number of remedial courses offered belie a more serious issue.

With budget cuts at an all-time high, departments are forced to offer fewer courses and combine others that used to be offered separately just to help students fulfill graduation requirements.

Remedial math classes should not trump core classes. If we are dealing with limited resources, which do we prioritize remedial or core classes?

These courses might detract from using resources and funds to help students in college level classes, and in turn possibly affect the quality of their college education.

It seems the issue begins in our high schools, where teachers and administrators are either unaware of what material is covered on college placements tests, or they are unable to align their curricula with college prep because the material on standardized tests does not match material colleges are looking for students to know.

With our university accepting students who may not be prepared as much as they should be for the collegiate curriculum, we should not have to invest a significant sum of our funds into courses that do count towards the graduation of our students.

According to the California State University (CSU), “The issue of college preparedness is not a new issue for higher education and certainly not CSU with over 50 percent of fully eligible freshmen arriving on CSU campuses without being proficient in math and/or English.”

Our university should acknowledge this issue and realize that while we still want high school seniors to apply to our university, it should be stressed that we want those who are adequately prepared and are proficient in subjects such as English and math.

Remedial courses should be available for those students who were competent in high school but who simply needed a refresher in either math or English.

Remedial courses should not be a crutch for those who may not have been ready to attend a CSU.

By prioritizing this issue, our university can open up room for students and classes to be properly offered to our students.

CSU is taking a step that may potentially rectify this situation. Beginning in 2012, Early Start, a new program sponsored by CSU, will require entering freshmen that are not proficient in math or “at risk” in English to start the remediation process before their first term.

By also putting the onus on students to meet the needed requirements to attend our university earlier, we will not only improve the quality of students admitted, but our university will also have more resources available to properly educate current students so we can all graduate as quickly as possible.