Topeka ? Eighth-graders, listen up.

The Kansas Board of Regents is considering tougher academic admission standards to get into a public university.

If approved, the standards would not go into effect for four years to give schools time to adjust their curriculum to fit. So that means today’s eighth-graders could face a higher hurdle when they start college.

The proposal has been in the works for two years, and will have such a wide-ranging impact that the regents plan to consider the matter over two meetings. The first will be on Dec. 16, then again in January.

“This is something that hasn’t been done in a while,” said Regent Janie Perkins of Garden City. It would make sense to carry the issue for two meetings, she said.

Currently, to get into Kansas University or any other regent university, a student must either complete a pre-college curriculum, get a 21 or higher on the ACT, or rank in the top third of their graduating high school class.

Under the proposed change, completion of a pre-college curriculum or Kansas Scholars curriculum with at least a 2.0 grade-point average would be required and then either an ACT score of 21 or higher, combined SAT score of 980 or higher on math and critical reading, or rank in the top third in the graduating class.

Oh, and individual state universities may ask the regents for approval to implement even more stringent standards. Kansas University is currently looking at setting higher standards.

The aim of the proposed standards is to admit students who are better prepared for college, and increase graduation and retention rates.