On Monday, Sept. 21, the Committee on Enrollment and Retention met in preparation for the Sept. 25 Winthrop University Board of Trustees Meeting to discuss the circumstances surrounding admission for incoming freshmen who are not able to take the SAT or ACT due to COVID-19 restrictions.
“The university was one of the first colleges and universities in South Carolina back in April of this year to suspend the requirement of standardized test scores…since then, as you may or may not know, most institutions, I would actually say the majority of institutions in the great state of South Carolina, have followed suit. Some have actually moved now to permanent test optional admissions, while some are just doing it on a temporary basis through the fall of 2021. That’s actually, obviously one of the reasons why we’re here today, we’re asking for the committee to consider extending our current test suspension policy, through fall of 2021,” Vice President for Access & Enrollment Management, Eduardo Prieto, said.
The committee voted to bring the issue to the Board of Trustees and use “the appropriate language that [the decision to suspend the testing requirement for admission] is temporary due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Julie Fowler, chair of the committee, said.
In Richardson Ballroom on Sept. 30, the board of trustees discussed the concerns about suspending testing requirements temporarily. Prieto informed the committee of the impact COVID-19 restrictions have had, statistically, on test takers this year.
“By this time last year, there [were] approximately 1.3 million SAT test takers. Right now, it’s about 600,000, so less than half of last year’s numbers. In the great state of South Carolina, it’s a little bit better, but not much. So, this time last year in South Carolina, there [were] approximately 22,000 SAT takers and as of yesterday there [were] 13,000, so 9,000 less than last year,” Prieto said.
The most concerning aspect of possibly permitting temporary adjusted admission criteria was freshmen eligibility for financial aid despite having no test scores.
“We were talking about merit aid,” Prieto said. “In traditional need-based aid is financial aid and so it’s true the financial aid piece of it is what usually typically goes out in the spring of a student’s senior year; however, the merit aid part typically goes out around the first of December.”
Regarding merit aid, chairman of the Council of Student Leaders Brandon Jackson asked, if not test scores, what criteria must incoming freshmen meet to be considered for admission. Prieto said that the details had not been ironed out yet, but admission will likely be based on students’ GPA, core class grades and AP and honors courses.
The board then voted on whether to permit the temporary suspension of required standardized test scores for admission.
“Winthrop University, until April 2020, has traditionally utilized the SAT and ACT standardized tests as part of the first-time freshman evaluation process for admittance. However, testing opportunities continue to be limited for prospective students due to the on-going challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, in an effort to remain accessible to and competitive for prospective students from South Carolina and non-residents, Winthrop respectfully requests a continuation of current alternative methods of evaluation in lieu of a standardized test score,”
read the meeting summary.
Photo by Olivia Esselman.
