San Antonio Express-News
By Melissa Ludwig
Getting into the University of Texas at Austin is going to get a little tougher for some top-ranked students.
Beginning in 2011, the campus will limit automatic admissions to students who rank in the top 8 percent of their class, rather than the top 10 percent, according to a letter sent to the Texas Education Agency on Monday.
The higher bar follows a new law allowing the university to cap enrollment from automatic admissions at 75 percent of the incoming class. Under the so-called “top 10 percent rule,” students who graduate in that tier of their high school class are automatically granted admission to any public university in Texas.
Located in a hip city teeming with live music, UT-Austin is by far the most popular destination for top 10 percent students.
This year, 86 percent of the 6,580 freshmen from in-state were top 10. If the 75 percent cap were in place today, the number of freshmen from Texas enrolled at UT under automatic admission would dip by 723 students to 4,935.
Admissions officials at UT-Austin have been seeking relief from the law for years. They say they want to be able to recognize qualified students who have special abilities but do not rank in the top 10 percent. The new policy gives the university discretion over the remaining 25 percent of admissions, opening the door for some students who fall outside the top 10 percent.
UT President William Powers complained that the university had “lost control” over admissions and did not have enough flexibility to admit students who may have other skills or talents besides making good grades.
The 1997 law was passed to boost minority enrollment at UT after a federal court ruling in the Hopwood case prohibited admissions officials from considering students' race and ethnicity. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2003 ruled that public institutions of higher education could use race as a factor in deciding which students to admit.
Many legislators were reluctant to change the rule, pointing to evidence that the law had boosted minority enrollment and geographic diversity by allowing students from rural and minority high schools to attend the flagship campus. Hispanic enrollment at UT has grown by 7 percent, enrollment of black students is up by 3 percent and enrollment of white students is down 13 percent.
But lawmakers eventually compromised and tweaked the law just for UT.
“I think it's an example of our work pulling two extreme sides together to find a shared solution,” said state Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio.
But Villarreal also called it a quick fix for a long-term problem — Texas has too few top-tier research universities in places where people want to work and study, he said.
“We as a state need to invest in places like the University of Texas at San Antonio so that it becomes a top choice for students seeking a quality education,” Villarreal said. “We need to make UTSA a Tier One university.”