A Comparison of Academic Aptitudes, Certain Values, and Personal and Background Characteristics of Students in Off-Campus Centers and on Central Campus of the Same University

Abstract

THE MUSHROOMING college population is I creating many concerns for those responsible for higher education, the most imminent anxiety be ing the need for facilities and qualified faculties. Concurrently, college administrators and trustees who are charged with long-range planning are faced with the challenge to maintain standards of academic excellence which are consistent with the traditional and changing purposes of higher education. In an effort to accommodate the increasing number of applicants, Ohio's state universities have pursued a variety of potential solutions. Central campus dormitory provisions have been greatly expanded, deferred entrance policies were put into effect, and the academic center concept of off-campus instruction was adopted. It is the latter approach with which this study is concerned. The principal motivation for initiating off campus centers often results from the practical realization that campus facilities are inadequate to accommodate the swelling number of under graduate enrollments. Another popular motiva tion for developing these centers stems from the viewpoint that the opportunities for post high school education should be democratized further in this nation. However, apprehension exists about the preser| vation of admission standards when opportunities for higher education are diffused in a geographic area wider than the main campus. Faculty mem bers and the public often express the opinion that students who enroll in non-campus centers are less prepared and less competent than students who enroll on the central campus of the univer sity. This study was designed to provide empirical evidence to answer the question : Do students who attend undergraduate off-campus academic cen ters differ from students who attend the central campus of the university? Kent State University, the second largest of Ohio's state universities, with its eleven academic centers, offered a perti nent setting for this study. Although there have been several studies and publications about off-campus operations and the characteristics of college students in general, there is a dearth of research which compares the students of a central campus with off-campus students of the same university.