ATLANTA — The University System of Georgia will waive SAT and ACT test requirements at most of the system’s 26 institutions for another academic year.
The waiver will apply to all of the system’s colleges and universities except the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech and Georgia College and State University.
The university system began waiving the test requirements in March 2020 with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. The waiver has been in effect for all but 10 months since then.
Most academic researchers have concluded that high school grade-point averages are a better indicator of future success in college than test scores, system Chancellor Sonny Perdue told members of the system’s Board of Regents on Wednesday.
The regents heard a presentation during Wednesday’s meeting on the campus of the University of North Georgia in Dahlonega showing that freshman enrollment plummeted last year when the system briefly re-imposed the testing requirement. Enrollment rebounded when the system went back to the waiver late last year.
Preliminary data for this coming fall — with the testing waiver remaining in effect — shows an increase in both applications and acceptances, Scott Lingrell, vice chancellor of enrollment and student affairs, told the regents.
“We’re cautiously optimistic about the fall,” he said. “We’re looking really good across our institutions.”
Dana Nichols, the system’s vice chancellor of academic affairs, said nearly 79% of accredited colleges and universities across the nation don’t require standardized tests for admission, including most schools in the neighboring states of Alabama, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Many of the schools in Florida and Tennessee also are test-optional, she said.
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