TSU alters admission criteria in board vote

Texas Southern University’s board of regents voted Monday to waive test score requirements for the upcoming academic year for student applicants who are in the top 25 percent of their class and also earn a 3.0 minimum GPA.

The board hopes the temporary measure will offer some relief during the COVID-19 pandemic, when some students might have difficulty taking or submitting test scores for college entrance exams like the SAT or ACT, said regent Pamela Medina, who presented the request that was voted on unanimously.

TSU’s typical criteria requires incoming students to have a 2.5 minimum GPA, and a combined SAT score of 820 or higher if taken before March 2016 or a score of 900 if taken after that date, according to the college. Those who take the ACT must earn a composite score of 17.

The approved admissions standard of a 3.0 GPA differs from the regents’ agenda proposal, which originally listed 3.5 as the minimum GPA.

With TSU’s temporary admissions measures, students who earn a GPA between 2.5 and a 2.99 will be required to submit test scores, but if they don’t have those records because of circumstances presented by the pandemic, the application will be considered pending until those documents are received, Me

dina said.

Students who aren’t able to secure testing can go through an appeals process with admissions officials that the board is slated to develop and likely outline during its next meeting, she said. Students with a GPA under 2.5 will be denied admission.

Provost Kendall Harris said GPA can vary from school to school, but looking at the GPA within the context of class ranking can be a way to gauge success.

Regent Marc Carter suggested those who are not able to take college entrance exams but meet other requirements, including GPA, could be admitted with an academic probationary status, a measure that Medina said is being considered.

About 5,800 of the 11,000 applicants for the fall have already been admitted to TSU, with about 2,200 who have already received their financial aid packages, officials said. At least 100 students have been admitted on the condition that they complete the college’s online pilot version of its existing Summer of Success academic preparedness program.

No students have had to go through the appeals process yet, said Teresa McKinney, vice president of student services and head of enrollment management.

TSU board chairman Albert Myres Sr. also announced during Monday’s meeting that the regents have accepted the findings of a review conducted by the Berkeley Research Group. The executive summary of the report said TSU admitted more than 4,000 students who did not meet the college’s academic criteria

and awarded a total of $2.1 million in scholarships over a three-year period to more than 900 students who were not qualified. A number of exceptions that were not reported, approved by or discussed with the board were made to admit the students, according to the review, which was based on data and multiple interviews and discussions with key stakeholders in TSU’s enrollment management department, Faisal Amin of Berkeley Research Group said.

Harris, who has not seen the full report, said he and university administration want to further review the full report to determine what took place and whether information was misrepresented.

Charla Parker-Thompson, the university’s chief audit executive, said the U.S. Department of Education has approached the university regarding past admissions improprieties and activities and might require testing of “academic eligibility exceptions” to analyze how federal dollars were commissioned and funding applied to students who were allegedly admitted improperly.

Myres said the report will later be posted online for the public and that the board and interim President Kenneth Huewitt will seek to implement recommendations made by the research group. Both emphasized the need to be credible, accountable and transparent to students and the public moving forward.

“I can assure you as TSU moves forward, (we’ll be) reviewing our policy and procedures to assure compliance and adherence,” Huewitt said.