Regents next week are expected to vote on raising admission standards at the state's two universities.

After almost a year of meetings between higher education officials and minority, civil rights and K-12 advocates, Chancellor Jim Rogers said he thinks he's got a compromise proposal to appease all sides and win the approval of regents at their meeting on June 8 and 9 in Reno.

If the plan is approved, the universities will require a grade point average of 3.0 for entering high school graduates -- or an SAT score of at least 1040 or an ACT score of at least 22 -- by fall 2008. That's a compromise from a proposal calling for a similar increase by fall 2007.

The admission standard for fall 2006 requires a 2.75 GPA.

In addition, Rogers signed a pledge to increase scholarship funding for underrepresented groups through private fundraising and state appropriations; hire qualified minorities for administrative positions; ensure presidential cabinets have minority members; commit more resources by 2008 to outreach programs for K-12 students and their families; recruit more minority students; and implement curriculum changes in teacher programs to better prepare K-12 instructors to deal with increasing minority populations.

"We have to raise the admission standards, we simply do," Rogers said. "We have too many students who are not ready for several reasons" to attend a Nevada university.

"They shouldn't go there, they should probably start at the community colleges."

He stressed that students who graduate with an associate's degree from a community college are guaranteed transfer to Nevada State College, UNLV or UNR. There will also be exceptions made for students who don't make the grade. A small number of applicants can be admitted under alternative criteria, such as significant academic improvement during high school or athletic or artistic talents.

"I do think that's important in light of the advanced timeline to have an adequate pool to address those students who really should be admitted but maybe haven't met the criteria," said Walt Rulffes, Clark County School District superintendent.

He said the district is working to create a more stringent, college preparatory curriculum to better prepare students.

The proposal to heighten standards, which was expected to help the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the University of Nevada, Reno, fare better in rankings, seemed cursed from the start.

Scores of critics spoke out against the regents' 2001 proposal to elevate the GPA standard to 3.0 in 2010. They spoke out again last year when UNLV officials pressed for that increase in 2007, three years ahead of schedule.

They stressed the change will make it harder for poor and minority students to gain admittance.

Rogers said he has held roundtable discussions on the issue for about a year. His pledge to diversity initiatives seemed to assuage many of the critics.

"Some of the things I feel encouraged about is the willingness of the chancellor, Jim Rogers, to talk about it as opposed to trying to ram it down our throats," said Tom Rodriguez, a Hispanic activist who has been fighting university attempts to increase admission standards since 1988.

"We've made our concerns known and I think you're going to see them addressed," he said.

The new president of UNLV, David Ashley, who begins July 1, has a reputation for encouraging diversity at the University of California, Merced, where he is a provost, Rodriguez said.

The Legislature is going to have to increase investments in the state college, where a lot of students no longer eligible for UNLV will attend, he said.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada is still contesting the increase in standards. Officials have maintained that using numerical criteria to limit the number of students admitted to the universities will disadvantage minority and low-income students.