On Saturday night, the Texas Legislature voted to put limits on a program that gives automatic admission to state universities for Texas students who graduate in the top 10 percent of their high schools. The changes allow the University of Texas at Austin campus to limit automatic admission to 75 percent of the freshman class, but the school will not be allowed to have more than 10 percent of its freshman come from out of state.

The program was designed to increase diversity in Texas colleges after controversy in the late 1990’s regarding affirmative action programs.  Given that many high schools in Texas are dominated by minority communities, state leaders thought that automatically admitting the top of all high school classes would boost minority enrolment.  The program has been credited with doing just that—forty five percent of this year’s class are minority students—and has been copied in other states. 

Now, however, officials at UT-Austin say the program has become so successful that it would either require the school to grow without the funds to do so or would result in all admitted students being automatic admissions by 2013.  Suburban parents were also upset that their children weren’t finding spots at the state’s flagship institutions, despite going to schools with high standards.  Last fall, 81 percent of the incoming class at UT-Austin was admitted as part of the 10 percent rule. Half of Texas A&M’s freshman class is also a result of the program.

More from the New York Times
More from Inside Higher Ed
More from the Dallas Morning News