CHAPEL HILL (May 27, 2021) – In a debate over whether to require students to submit SAT or ACT scores with their applications for admission in Fall 2022, access – particularly for rural students – won out.

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the UNC Board of Governors that oversees 16 public university campuses voted last year to waive standardized test requirements for students applying for admission in 2021. But several members objected today when UNC System staff proposed extending the waiver through Fall 2022 admissions.

The staff reported that 22,000 high-school students in North Carolina – mostly in rural and economically distressed counties – had difficulties taking the ACT exam this year.

As evidence mounts about biases in standardized testing, more than 60% of institutions in the United States will not require standardized test scores for fall 2022, including Duke University, Davidson College, Wake Forest University, the University of Texas System, the California State University System, the University of Illinois System, the Penn State System, the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech

But in his last meeting as a board member, Steve Long objected, saying the University of Georgia will require standardized test scores for Fall 2022 admissions and that universities need at least two indicators, rather than relying just on high-school grade-point averages. Long proposed that the UNC System allow applicants to sign a waiver if they weren’t able to take an SAT or ACT.

Joel Ford, the board’s lone Democrat, said he was torn by the issue. But he agreed that universities shouldn’t admit students who aren’t qualified because their families then tend to take on substantial student debt.

Board member Art Pope agreed. “We are not doing students a favor to admit them if they are not prepared,” he said.

But Temple Sloan, chair of the board’s education planning committee, argued that 1,400 institutions across the country have waived SAT/ACT requirements for Fall 2022, and that UNC System chancellors and provosts support the waiver.

“We’re not by ourselves,” Sloan said. “What we’re asking for is a one-year waiver,” after which the testing requirement would be reinstated.

Across North Carolina during the pandemic, Sloan said, “Education was applied unevenly.”

Board Chair Randy Ramsey said waiving the test requirement doesn’t preclude students from submitting test scores. But requiring the tests could hurt rural students disproportionately.

“I’m from rural North Carolina,” Ramsey said. “In Northeastern North Carolina, I know that some people have to drive as much as two hours to take this test.”

NC State University Chancellor Randy Woodson said the vast majority of NC State’s applicants this year submitted test scores. But Woodson said he supports the waiver because the state doesn’t want to lose talented students.

And, as more questions emerge about standardized tests – where scores tend to correlate with household income – administrators don’t yet know whether students admitted without test scores perform as well as their peers.

“Right now we don’t have that data,” Woodson said.

Board Vice Chair Wendy Murphy said that Sampson County, where her own children went to school, doesn’t offer many Advanced Placement (AP) classes, and many families don’t have the resources she had to spend on SAT Prep classes for one of her children.

“Taking a test is a financial burden for a lot of families,” Murphy said.

The board ultimately voted to continue to waive the requirement for admissions through Fall 2022. Board member Jim Holmes recommended that the board’s education planning committee continue to consider whether to require SAT/ACT scores as a requirement for admissions.