Since 1987, Ohio State has admitted incoming freshmen and transfer students to the Columbus campus on a selective basis for fall quarter. The Academic Plan calls for extending selective admission standards to winter and spring quarters.According to the Academic Plan, the way to facilitate year-around selective admissions and fulfill the land grant mission of OSU is to continue to provide open access to the branch campuses.”We need to have the same standard apply throughout the year, and in so doing, we need to make much better use of our regional campuses,” said OSU President William “Brit” Kirwan during his State of the University speech on Oct. 7. “We need to have them seen as true portals to the Ohio State University, alternatives for students to get a degree from Ohio State University.” OSU’s regional campuses are located in Lima, Marion, Mansfield, Newark and Wooster.OSU recommends the regional campuses to students who are not admitted to the Columbus campus, said Martha Garland, vice provost and dean of Undergraduate Studies. She said that many students who apply to OSU are intent on coming to Columbus to live in a big city and attend a big campus. As a result, not many students are taking OSU up on the offer to attend regional campuses, Garland said, and there is a need to make the message more welcoming and supportive. Garland cited the example of Penn State University, which has numerous branch campuses. When applying to Penn State, students rank the campus locations by preference, she said.Right now there are more questions than answers regarding the impact of going to year-around selective admissions, Garland said.”There is an expectation that more students will make regional campuses their first choice,” said Dominic Dottavio, dean of the Marion campus. Marion expects to see some level of enrollment increase and has entered into discussions to address the need for residence halls, Dottavio said. They hope to have the residence halls available by autumn quarter 2002.Historically, Marion has served as a point of access for students who could not attend the Columbus campus, with an emphasis on education majors, Dottavio said. When former Ohio Gov. James Rhodes created the branch campuses, it was with the intention that every citizen in the state of Ohio would have access to higher education within 30 miles of their door, he said.Dottavio expects three major impacts on the Marion campus: a shift in the mix of traditional students, an expansion of course offerings and an expansion in the number of four-year degree offerings.At Mansfield, enrollment has been increasing over the past five years, said John Riedl, dean of the Mansfield campus. One issue independent of the Academic Plan, is that many more location-bound students are returning to college, he said. Because of this, they have begun to introduce a limited number of baccalauteate opportunities, he said. Another issue is housing.”We are providing, with a private developer, opportunities for students to live near campus,” Riedl said. The suite style housing is already available, immediately adjacent to campus, and is attracting students from different parts of the state, he said.Just building residence halls is not enough, Garland said. The campuses have a need for residence life programming and for a greater presence by Student Affairs, she said. In the past, the Board of Regents has prevented the branch campuses from building residence halls, Garland said, but the regents are now getting away from those restrictions.A committee is being assembled to look into what majors and what number of baccalaureate programs are right for the branch campuses, she said. She added that with the large number of colleges in Ohio there is no sense in turning the branches into four-year institutions. In the long run, Garland said, the changes with selective admissions will make the branch campuses and the Columbus campus more important to each other.”Those campuses and the people in those towns are committed to being part of Ohio State,” Garland said.