FAYETTEVILLE -- The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville is temporarily suspending some of its minimum test score requirements for freshmen enrolling next year.
"This has been a challenging time for high school seniors and testing has been problematic, so we have made changes in the admissions and scholarship review process for prospective students," Suzanne McCray, UA's top enrollment official, said in an email.
Testing centers for SAT and ACT exams have closed in some cases or, if open, may be operating at a reduced capacity, according to the National Association for College Admission Counseling.
Out-of-state students won't need a minimum ACT score to receive major awards reducing tuition costs, while several scholarships for in-state 2021 freshmen will not require standardized test scores.
Admission for 2021 has shifted to "test optional" for students with at least a 3.2 high school grade-point average, McCray said. These students will still need to take a standardized test "for placement purposes and to meet state reporting requirements," McCray said.
UA's website describes a "test flexible" policy for students with high school grade-point averages ranging from 2.75 to 3.19, who will be allowed to submit results from an exam called the Next Generation Accuplacer Test that's offered online several times weekly. Other students may qualify for admission but are required to submit an ACT or SAT score.
Previously, UA's minimum admission standard had been a 3.0 high school grade-point average and an ACT score of 20.
The National Center for Fair and Open Testing -- an advocacy group that promotes alternatives to standardized tests -- has found that more than two-thirds of four-year colleges and universities are not requiring ACT or SAT scores for fall 2021 admission.
In Arkansas, schools including the University of Central Arkansas have made temporary changes affecting 2021 admissions.
"Students who have a minimum 3.0 GPA do not have to submit ACT or SAT test scores for admission consideration," Courtney Bryant, UCA's director of admissions, said in a statement. The admissions changes were approved in May by the university's governing board.
Bryant added that at UCA, "academic scholarships for the fall 2021 freshman class only consider GPAs for awarding this year."
Arkansas State University is "working with our faculty and academic staff to accommodate students who have difficulty taking an ACT or other placement test this fall for 2021 admission," Bryan Terry, ASU's vice chancellor for enrollment management, said in a statement. The Jonesboro campus plans "to work in close coordination with the state," Terry said.
"For example, if the state waives ACT requirements for Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarships, we will do the same," Terry said.
At UA, changes to scholarships were announced this month.
Affected by the change is UA's New Arkansan Non-Resident Tuition Award Scholarship for Surrounding States, which reduces by 70%, 80% or 90% the gap between more costly out-of-state tuition and the tuition rate paid by in-state students.
The top award requires at least a 3.6 high school grade-point average.
To receive the top award last fall, an incoming freshman also needed a minimum ACT score of 28.
For 2021, students must have a high school grade-point average of at least 3.4 to receive the 80% award and at least 3.2 for the 70% award. Last fall, students also needed a minimum of 26 on the ACT for the 80% award and a minimum of 24 for the 70% award.
For purposes of the award, UA's list of nine "surrounding states" includes Georgia, Illinois and Kansas as well as bordering states Texas, Missouri, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Louisiana.
In fall 2019, 1,645 incoming, degree-seeking freshmen received a 70%, 80% or 90% award, McCray said in July. Numbers for this fall were not provided by UA.
"This is a very unusual year, and we do not expect to give out more awards. We are just wanting to relieve the stress that many students are experiencing," McCray said.
Several years ago, UA experienced rapid growth in enrollment, mainly because of out-of-state students, including many from Texas. More recently, total enrollment has been mostly flat or down slightly.
McCray said Arkansans made up slightly more than half of the incoming freshman classes at UA the past two years.
"We like the balance we have now with Arkansans as the majority of the class and we want to maintain that balance," McCray said.
She said prospective students are looking for schools to provide options.
"Many students have had a series of tests cancelled and have still not been able to test at all. This is causing them to look to schools allowing test optional opportunities," McCray said.
A similar scholarship, the Extended States New Arkansan Non-Resident Tuition Award, offers a tuition break for students from other states of up to 80% and is also temporarily waiving minimum standardized test score requirements.
Among scholarships for in-state students, UA is waiving a requirement for standardized test scores in applications for its First-Year Advantage, Razorback Connection, Freshman Success and Freshman Academic scholarships, according to its website.
Other institutional scholarships will continue to require standardized test scores, McCray said.
"Several of our privately funded scholarships require scores, so we are continuing to require scores for those though we are extending our award period," McCray said.
This fall, 1,859 new freshmen from Arkansas received institutional scholarships, McCray said.
The pandemic "has been quite disruptive for high school students and the standardized testing culture," Felecia Commodore, an assistant professor of higher education at Old Dominion University, said in an email.
Along with cancellations, some testing sites have not been able to provide tests to as many students as usual, Commodore said. Students may also have gotten sick or had family fall ill, she added. And then there are the economic effects of the pandemic.
"I think all of these things have played a role in students experiencing challenges regarding testing," Commodore said.
TESTING AND EQUITY
A task force put together by the National Association for College Admission Counseling concluded in a report released in August that there are "questions as to what testing will look like over the next few years, and which institutions will decide to remain test-optional for the long-term."
A driving force behind the report was to examine inequities associated with standardized testing. Federal data from the National Center for Education Statistics shows a gap in ACT test scores for different racial and ethnic groups.
Black and Hispanic students are underrepresented at colleges considered "more selective," according to an Urban Institute report released this year, titled Racial and Ethnic Representation in Postsecondary Education. The report defined "more selective" colleges as those with at least two-thirds of freshman students scoring higher than 21 on the ACT.
UA saw its number of Black students enrolled this fall increase to 1,251 from 1,202 a year ago, according to preliminary data. The total number of Black students at the university this fall makes up 4.5% of all students, while the state is 15.7% Black, according to recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Asked if UA was considering a shift away from its use of standardized tests, McCray said the university "will certainly review the data of this unusual year, reviewing retention rates and student success."