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The Daily Tar Heel

UNC system to weigh SAT’s role in admissions

Elizabeth City State University, Fayetteville State University and North Carolina Central University are part of the pilot, which would launch in fall 2015.

Karrie Dixon, vice president for academic and student success, said that General Administration staff studied more than 80,000 UNC-system student records and determined that high school GPA was a better predictor of college success than SAT scores — which mirrors national research results.

A large number of colleges and universities nationwide — around 900, Dixon estimated — have moved away from SAT requirements, either going SAT optional or telling prospective students SAT scores won’t be a major factor in admissions decisions. Critics have argued that standardized tests disadvantage low-income students who can’t afford test preparation materials or courses.

The minimum admissions requirements for all UNC-system schools, approved in 2011, are a 2.5 high school grade point average and a combined score of 800 on the reading and math sections of the SAT.

The pilot would implement a sliding scale, where students with an SAT score of 790 could be admitted as long as they had at least a 2.6 GPA, and a student with a 750 SAT would need a 3.0 GPA.

J. Craig Souza, chairman of the educational planning, policies and programs committee, said he supports the pilot. The change is not a direct effort to increase enrollment on the campuses, he said.

“What we’re going to trade is a little lower SATs for substantially higher grade point average to help some of the kids who don’t come from wealthy school districts,” he said.

The program would include increased academic support for these students, including tutoring and counseling.

Board member Joan Perry said she thought there would be additional costs associated with the extra academic advising.

The expanded tutoring could be seen as remedial education that should be completed at the community college level, said board member Steven Long.

Long said a pilot program might not be necessary.

“I don’t know really what the ultimate aim is,” he said. “Is it trying to go to an SAT optional policy, or what? If that’s the end, let’s just cut to the quick.”

The pilot will be limited to 100 students per campus each year and last three years.

Alex Parker, president of the UNC-system Association of Student Governments, said the student body presidents at the three campuses told him their universities would benefit a great deal from the change.

“They kind of sold me on the program,” he said.

Still, Long said he’d like to see more North Carolina students go through the state’s community college system as a path to a degree.

“To me, this is going in the wrong direction.”

state@dailytarheel.com

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