UNC System will change admissions requirements after coronavirus cancels SAT and ACT
The UNC System will have new admissions requirements for students enrolling in the Fall 2020 semester because SAT and ACT tests have been canceled and postponed by COVID-19.
Each individual university can now choose to admit students with a minimum 2.5 weighted high school GPA or a combined SAT score of 1010 or an ACT score of 19. Though admissions offices can make decisions based on GPA alone, students are still required to submit a standardized test score with their application, unless they qualify for an exemption.
The proposed policy was slated to go into effect in 2021 if approved, but the Board of Governors voted to expedite the process at a special meeting Monday via phone. The board also amended the proposal to make it effective for the next three years across the system. It will be up for discussion after that.
Universities get more flexibility on admissions
Anna Nelson, chair of the Committee on Educational Planning, Policies and Programs, made clear that each university will still make its own admissions decisions.
She said she trusts the leadership of the individual campuses and admissions teams to make a decision in the best interest of student success. Universities will be held to the same student success metrics that are outlined in the system’s strategic plan.
The change is based on UNC System data analysis and national research that shows that GPA is a better predictor of student success and graduation rates than standardized test scores, the News & Observer previously reported.
The proposal is backed by a pilot program that allowed Elizabeth City State University, Fayetteville State University and N.C. Central University to modify the standard minimum admissions requirements for new first-time freshmen students. The program showed no statistical difference in academic performance between those students and students admitted under the regular admissions standards.
The CollegeBoard and ACT have announced that standardized tests scheduled for March, April and May have been rescheduled or canceled due to growing concerns about the spread of coronavirus.
At Monday’s meeting, Elizabeth City State University Chancellor Karrie Dixon said the test cancellations put a significant number of students at a disadvantage in the admissions process for the next two years.
She said the system shouldn’t create barriers where students don’t have access because of the situation of a pandemic, which they had no control over. Dixon said she has to deny students who have good GPAs, but can’t get a good enough test score due to their socioeconomic status.
For some students, this spring could be the first and only time they could take the test. Others might be trying to take the test again to get a higher score.
With this change, chancellors and admissions officials can make UNC System campuses more accessible, which is part of the system’s mission, Dixon said.
Adam Schmidt, the student representative on the board, said this policy allows universities’ to review more students who they think would be successful.
“It’s not about who we are admitting, but who we’re systematically excluding from the conversation,” Schmidt said. “I think we need to open doors for those North Carolinians.”
But some board members argued that big decisions about admissions standards shouldn’t be made over the phone or during a global pandemic.
Board members Steve Long and Thom Goolsby also expressed concerns that this change would bring in students who are unprepared for college. Long has argued that UNC System admissions requirements are already low and standardized test scores shouldn’t be disregarded.
In an email to the board before the meeting, Long said revising the admissions policy is “essentially a vote to lower those standards and make standardized test scores irrelevant in the fight to maintain higher graduation rates.”
Three board members voted against the proposed changes, but the amendments to the policy passed.
Refunds for students
In addition to the the application process, COVID-19 has also disrupted students’ lives on campuses across the UNC System. Most students were ordered to leave their dorms and lost access to dining facilities as campuses moved to online and remote instruction to help stop the spread of coronavirus.
UNC System interim President Bill Roper told board members Monday that the system plans to offer prorated refunds to students for housing and dining plans that have already been paid for. The amounts will vary across the system and even within a university, because different living arrangements have different costs, Roper said.
About 65,000 students lived on campuses before the outbreak. That number is now 3,264, according to Roper.
Roper said he’d like students, parents and other appropriate parties to have checks in their hands in about three weeks or by the end of April.
The system’s plan got more complicated because of the $2 trillion federal stimulus package that offers emergency relief funds to workers and businesses.
Roper said their decision has been delayed as UNC System leaders work to understand the package and try to figure out how to get the “maximum advantage for students and their families.” He said they should have that done “very shortly.”
This story was originally published March 30, 2020 at 1:29 PM with the headline "UNC System will change admissions requirements after coronavirus cancels SAT and ACT."
