for further information:
Akil Bello 917 771-0081 Harry Feder 917 273-8939
for immediate release, Wednesday, June 21, 2023
MOST “MERIT” SCHOLARSHIPS NO LONGER DEPEND ON ACT/SAT SCORES, BUT PERSISTENT TEST-BASED, FINANCIAL AID HURDLES STILL BLOCK COLLEGE ACCESS FOR THOUSANDS OF QUALIFIED APPLICANTS; NEW FAIRTEST REPORT ANALYZES PROGRAMS AND IMPACTS
Undergraduate admissions has become far less standardized test dependent since the beginning of the pandemic. More than 80% of all four-year colleges and universities do not require fall 2023 applicants to submit ACT or SAT scores. The overwhelming majority of those schools plan to continue test-optional admissions policies indefinitely. Admission to a college, however, does not mean an aspiring student can afford to go there. Most applicants still require financial aid.
Despite the movement to test-optional and test-free policies, applicants and parents still think that most “merit” scholarships require the use of ACT or SAT scores to determine eligibility. A new report released today by the National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest) finds that perception to be unsupported by the numbers – only a quarter of all current “merit” aid scholarships have test-score requirements.
At the same time, however, “Merit Awards: Myths, Realities & Barriers to Access” finds that those remaining test-based scholarships create unfair barriers to access for otherwise qualified applicants. When using public funds, these programs operate as a “Reverse Robin Hood” transfer of wealth from poor to rich. At flagship public campuses the effect is even more pronounced, with about one-third of scholarships requiring minimum ACT or SAT scores.
The report’s primary author, FairTest Senior Director of Advocacy and Advancement Akil Bello, explained, “Inaccurate perceptions about the testing requirements of ‘merit’ aid have been encouraged by the manufacturers of the ACT and SAT, the National Merit Scholarship program, several prominent statewide test-based plans including Florida’s Bright Futures and Georgia’s Zell Miller scholarships, and the test prep industry. As a result, students frequently misallocate time and effort toward test preparation to improve their chances of receiving merit scholarships. The claim that a sizable portion of ‘merit’ aid goes to ‘diamonds in the rough’ from historically under-represented groups is inconsistent with one hundred years of research about the tests’ racial, gender and social class biases.”
“Ongoing merit scholarship requirements still pose a barrier to college affordability for those who need aid the most,” added FairTest Executive Director Harry Feder. “Especially for teenagers from low-income families and under-represented groups, scholarships that require test scores – given the striking correlation of standardized test results to family income and racial background – deter students from applying and attending. Lottery and sales tax funded “merit” scholarships based on ACT and SAT scores use poor people’s money to subsidize rich people’s tuition. Test-based “merit” scholarships are yet another roadblock in the quest for broader affordable access to college education.”
The FairTest report concludes that basing scholarships on factors other than test scores would have positive implications for college diversity, just as test-optional policies have broadened applicant pools. With new limitations on race-conscious diversity initiatives likely to be imposed by the U.S. Supreme Court, eliminating one barrier to access – test-based scholarships – is particularly sound policy.
Among the report’s other recommendations
- Colleges and state-sponsored programs should decouple the granting of aid from standardized test scores both for consistency and equity. Most simply, scholarship qualification rules should match admissions requirements.
- Scholarship requirements should be simple and transparent. Individual campuses and state systems should regularly publish data demonstrating how much financial aid is awarded through each channel.
- Scholarship funding should be shifted away from test-based “merit” programs to need-based aid.
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The report is available online at
https://fairtest.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/FairTest-Merit-Awards-Myths-and-Barriers-Final.pdf