College Level Math & English As A Gateway to Priority Registration

I have noticed a trend in news articles that is going to change the nature of community colleges in California. As the Economy gets weaker and the State is looking to reduce costs, it has turned its attention to the community colleges via various metrics that will change how things are done. The latest and the most popular metric that is being scrutinized is the success rate of students. The success rate looks at how many students pass the class with the letter grade C or better. The other metric being used is the graduation rates of students.
I have mixed feelings about this trend of using metrics. There is the Economist in me who understands that resources are limited and we can not waste these scarce resources. Then there is educator in me who interacts with the students and understands that life throws curve balls at our students stopping them dead in their educational track. I am going to approach this post as an economist with a simple change that will raise the graduation rates at Rio Hondo College. My suggestions will not be popular with some of my colleagues but are gentler than what will be forced upon us and our students in a few years. Read the article.
There are many programs at Rio Hondo that give priority registration to various subgroups of students. Many of these students due to their difficult circumstances  or lack of maturity do not finish the class or do not graduate. They sign up for classes denying spaces to students who would most likely finish and most likely to graduate from Rio Hondo .Due to the segregated nature of the K-12 system in California with higher performing schools in higher income areas most of our students at Rio Hondo come to college unprepared. These unprepared students lower both success and graduation rate at the college. If the college is interested in increasing success and graduation rates, it should assess every student and give priority registration to all students who are performing at college level.
As it stands now many of our degrees require College Algebra and English 101 as a graduation requirement. Students delay taking these classes thereby lowering their chances of success in other classes.
I proposed giving students who take these classes at the beginning of their college career the incentive of priority registration. As the number of classes offered shrinks the incentive to register for college level math and English will increase. The only determination of whether one qualifies for  priority registration should be if the said student can perform at the college level or not.