10,000 Utah high school seniors offered direct admission at 3 Utah colleges

A new initiative will grant 10,000 high school seniors in northern Utah direct admission to college — with no GPA requirements and no applications needed.

It’s the latest in a string of similar programs aimed at getting more students in Utah to not only pursue higher education but stay here to do so.

This most recent direct admission effort — called the Northern Wasatch Collegiate Coalition — went online Thursday. And it is the most expansive and inclusive yet.

Every public high school senior in Weber, Morgan and Davis counties will automatically get a letter letting them know they have been accepted at each of the region’s three colleges. They don’t have to meet any benchmarks. They don’t even have to submit an application. They’re just in.

The letter will include financial aid information and scholarship offers. And then it’s up to the student to decide — by filling out an “interest form” — if they want to attend Weber State University, Davis Technical College or Ogden-Weber Technical College.

All three schools are already open admissions, meaning students don’t have to get certain grades or test scores to get accepted. But that’s what makes the new program work — and why it’s different, said Weber State President Brad Mortensen.

Even with open admissions, there are still many students in the region, he said, who have never seen themselves as “college material,” and who didn’t plan to apply. The point of the initiative is to let every student know that they are welcome.

“College really is available to everyone,” he said Thursday during the announcement.

The hope is that it will encourage students to enroll who never dreamed of going to college, never saw themselves in higher education, never thought they could get a degree or a technical certificate. The biggest barriers — financial support and the application — have been removed.

When Dan Linford was in high school, he had been a one of those students who didn’t think college was for him. His GPA looked like a typo. And “I certainly didn’t have the test scores,” he said.

But, by chance, he got a scholarship and was accepted to Weber State University. Now, years later, Linford is the superintendent of Davis School District — the second largest K-12 district in Utah.

The students in his district are included in the initiative, and he hopes those like him will pay special attention to the offer. By going to Weber State, he said, “I saw what I could become.”

“This is a game changer,” he added.

Grace Malan, a senior at Ogden High School in Ogden School District, which is also included, said she’d been stressed and discouraged about applying to college. On Thursday, she was presented the first direct admission letter under the new initiative.

“It allows us to see higher education as more accessible rather than out of reach,” she said with a smile, standing next to Weber State’s wildcat mascot and shaking hands with each school president.

The announcement follows a program unveiled by the University of Utah in August called “Utah Direct.” Under that, 5,000 high school seniors across three K-12 districts in Salt Lake County and one in Utah County were offered direct admission to the U.

But, unlike the Weber-Morgan-Davis coalition, the U. requires a 3.5 GPA for guaranteed acceptance.

There also is a new statewide initiative, launched earlier this month, called “Admit Utah.” That guarantees that a Utah high school senior who applies in state will be guaranteed admission to at least one of the 16 public universities, traditional colleges or technical colleges here.

That platform is not an application system, so students still have to apply. But they are promised a spot.

The efforts, overall, have come as the college-age population in Utah has started to level off, and schools both here and across the nation are competing for the same students.

Enrolling more students typically means more money for an institution — either through state funding or tuition dollars.

With the new northern Utah initiative, Mortensen promises it’s not just to get more students through the door. Each institution, he said, has support to make sure students are succeeding. And all are offering financial support.

“We have people ready to help them on their educational journey, from that very first class all the way to graduation,” he said.

Additionally, students who start at one of the two technical colleges in the partnership and earn a certificate can later transfer to Weber State University for an associate or bachelor’s degree with a bonus head start: The university will grant up to 21 hours in elective credits from that certificate.

Students who want to attend one of the technical colleges can also “jump start” a degree at Weber State at the same time, with Weber State offering three general education classes online at $95 per credit hour — the rate at the technical colleges — instead of the full university tuition price.

Mortensen said the return for students is the promise of better jobs and pay with a college degree or certificate. The region includes Hill Air Force Base, which is often looking to hire for the aerospace and defense industries — which all three schools train for.

And Weber State currently is the top producer of working health professionals in the state.

“This will really benefit students and families, along with local employers who rely on skilled graduates for economic growth and community prosperity,” added James Taggart, the president of Ogden-Weber Technical College.

“For our graduating seniors, every one of you is a five-star recruit,” he added. “We want every one of you.”