The University of Idaho could get rid of its last standardized test requirement.
If the change goes into effect for fall 2027, it would bring the U of I in line with other colleges and universities in the region, a university spokeswoman said Tuesday. The proposed change also comes in the midst of an evolving national debate over standardized tests. Most colleges and universities don’t require ACT or SAT scores, and some don’t look at them at all, but some of the nation’s most selective schools are reinstating testing requirements.
For the vast majority of applicants, the U of I is already test-optional.
High school graduates with a GPA of 3.0 or higher are admitted automatically, with no test required. The same goes for in-state students who score proficient of higher on the Idaho Standards Achievement Test. Graduates with GPAs of 2.3 to 2.59 don’t need to submit a test score either; they enroll through the Vandal Gateway Program for first-year general studies majors.
The test requirement only applies to students that fall in a donut hole — with GPAs of 2.6 to 2.99. About 11% of the U of I’s incoming class falls within this range, spokeswoman Jodi Walker said.
The U of I had dropped all testing requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Officials began looking at the U of I’s sole testing requirement in the spring, as this year’s application season drew to a close. This year’s numbers suggest the U of I’s recent enrollment surge is slowing — and probably for a number of reasons, including a shrinking population of 18- to 22-year-olds, and a rising public debate over the value of a four-year degree.
University officials decided the testing requirement was one easy lever to pull, Walker said.
“The landscape is changing,” she said. “Why put up barriers that don’t necessarily need to be there?”
The decision, for now, falls to interim Provost Brooke Blevins. If Blevins signs onto the proposal, the admissions change would go into effect on an interim basis, kicking off a two-year faculty review. That would give the faculty time to see if the change is having an impact on enrollment and access, Walker said.
Idaho colleges and universities set their own admissions guidelines — and Boise State University, Idaho State University and Lewis-Clark State College do not require SAT and ACT scores.
Standardized test mandates have fallen out of favor nationally, and are rare in the West.
According to the National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest), a Brooklyn, N.Y.,-based group, only 7% of colleges and universities require standardized tests. The vast majority of colleges fall into a broad category of test-optional schools — and despite the U of I’s limited testing requirement for some students, FairTest lists the U of I as test-optional.
According to FairTest, all colleges in Idaho and its neighboring states are test-optional or “test-free,” which means test scores aren’t even considered in the admissions process.
But all eight Ivy League colleges and universities are reinstating their pre-COVID standardized testing requirements, and other top-ranking schools are following suit, Higher Ed Dive reported in August. The schools are facing some external pressure from the Trump administration, which favors standardized testing.
FairTest Executive Director Harry Feder downplayed the trend.
“Ivy Plus schools, as wealthy, exclusive national outliers, have increasingly gone back to requiring test scores for admission for their own institutional reasons and in response to external pressures,” he said in a recent news release. “The national picture of test-optional and test-free admissions is actually very stable.”
