The Changing Landscape of Admissions Testing Policies  

This blog post is part of our Back to School, Forward with Students campaign, which highlights research, student testimonies, and leadership thought pieces focused on expanding college access for historically underserved students. As students prepare to return to school, we call on leaders across the state to prepare for students. Empowering more students to access college is key to helping our state achieve an ambitious 70% college attainment goal by 2030, meeting workforce demands, and making economic opportunity possible for more Californians. Test-free and test-optional policies are a crucial piece of this goal. 

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, I worked as an admissions counselor for a regional comprehensive university with a total enrollment of about 12,000 students. In my role, I regularly met with high school students to support them in their college/university decision-making process by answering questions about their major of interest, campus life, and the costs of attending the university.  During my tenure, my campus began implementing an admissions test-optional policy that did not require student applicants to submit a test score for admissions decisions. While the policy itself was not a novel one—universities have adopted test-optional policies as far back as 1969, when Bowdoin College did so—going test-optional became a necessity for campuses around the country adapting to the widespread test cancellations brought on by the pandemic, with some going as far as implementing test-free policies, refusing to consider test scores as part of an application entirely. 

While this position was my first in college admissions, it was clear that the test-optional policy had changed many aspects of admissions work. More seasoned admissions counselors often discussed how these policies increased applications from students of color and impacted financial aid packages. As of the 2024 college admissions cycle, about 80% of 4-year universities in the United States have now implemented test-optional or test-free policies.  However, despite widespread adoption, both test-optional and test-free policies remain a contentious topic, and many universities have considered reverting to their pre-pandemic policies. However, early research findings make it clear that these policies are beneficial for students. In the midst of federal attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives; an escalating college affordability crisis; and other barriers that seek to limit fair and equitable opportunity to higher education for historically underserved students, higher education leaders and policymakers must meet this moment with proven innovative policies and practices like test-optional and test-free admissions to broaden college access.  

Evaluating Test-Optional Policies 

As of 2024, some universities have reinstated a test-requiring policy, with highly selective universities like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yale University leading the charge. Some researchers have argued that ACT/SAT exams are valuable as they can be utilized to predict college success outcomes, and measure a student’s academic readiness. Nonetheless, test-optional policy adoption has shown to lead to increases in the number student applications for universities and promote equitable outcomes by increasing the enrollment rates for students of color and students from low-income backgrounds. Additionally, test-optional policies have been associated with changes in financial aid award distribution, leading to increases in the number of students receiving institutional grant aid, but decreases in the average amount of institutional aid, as that aid is spread out between more students. While test-optional policies present new opportunities for college access, some of my colleagues indicated during the implementation of these policies that they seemed to be producing inequities in different forms. The university’s financial aid awards shifted to provide greater award amounts for students who submitted ACT/SAT scores in comparison to students who did not submit test scores for admission purposes. While the differing outcomes across studies can be attributed to the differences in their samples and designs, much of the evidence suggests that test-optional policies alter the admissions and enrollment patterns of universities that adopt them, overall broadening college access to students from minoritized and low-income backgrounds. 

Test-Free Policies  

Recently, there have been more universities looking to permanently eliminate the consideration of ACT/SAT test scores in their admissions process. For example, campuses in the University of California (UC) and the California State University (CSU) systems are part of the 86 universities to have implemented a test-free policy nationally. The UCs announced their adoption of test-optional policies in May of 2020 and then later (along with the CSUs) implemented ‘test-blind’ or test-free policies starting with their fall 2023 cohort. 

While the research literature examining the effects of test-free policies is limited, largely due to their recent adoption, preliminary findings indicate that they are working as intended. One examination of test-free policies assessed survey responses from college admissions professionals on their work experiences and test-free policies. The study reported that admissions professionals interpreted the shift to test-free policies as generating greater equity and increasing access for a more diverse student cohort. The study quoted one admissions professional: “Standardized tests are well known to disproportionately benefit better-resourced students than students who are disproportionately less represented in higher ed (including low income and/or first gen students).” These admissions professionals indicated that shifting towards test-free policies could reduce confusion and problems arising from differential treatment between student applicants with and without test scores under a test-optional policy. Another professional addressed concerns that eliminating test scores as a criterion would make candidate readiness harder to evaluate, saying, “It is actually much easier to assess a student’s academic capabilities than I expected,” suggesting that admissions office operations were not greatly disrupted with the introduction of this new policy.   

Future Directions 

Understanding the vast positive impact that test-free/test-optional policies can have on students, colleges and universities nationwide must hold the line on these innovative practices to ensure student access and success, particularly for underserved communities. We offer the following recommendations to best support students: 

• Engage Admissions Professionals in Policy Development: Create structured opportunities for admissions counselors and professionals to voice their opinions on which admission policies should be implemented at the university level. Their frontline experience offers valuable insights into how policies impact students and institutional goals. 

• Consider Research-Based Adoption of Test Optional or Test-Free Policies: Evaluate the adoption of test-optional and test-free admissions policies through a data-informed lens, examining their impact on student access and success outcomes. 

• Enhance Data Transparency and Access: Universities adopting test-optional/test-free policies should grant researchers and relevant stakeholders access to anonymized student administrative records. This will enable rigorous and disaggregated analysis to better assess what student populations benefit the most from these policies.  

More in the Back to School Campaign

Publication

The Declining Impact of Impaction at the California State University

Blog

The Decline of CSU Impaction: A Turning Point for Student Access