The State University of New York (SUNY) system will no longer require students to take the SAT or ACT (or any other standardized tests) to apply for admission to one of its colleges or universities.
The change was unanimously approved by SUNY’s Board of Trustees — the governing body that represents SUNY’s 64 schools — this month.
SUNY Chancellor John King said that a test-optional policy is “consistent with national trends at peer institutions” and research from the Rockefeller Institute of Government found that “colleges in New York State and across the country are largely maintaining their test-optional policies and/or implementing them permanently” in a resolution submitted to the Board of Trustees.
The resolution also states that fewer high school students — especially those from underrepresented groups — are taking these standardized tests.
In 2020, SUNY temporarily suspended SAT and ACT testing requirements in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This suspension was extended multiple times through the 2022-23 academic year. King said “the retention rate gap between test takers and non-test takers has stayed the same or even shrunk” during the last three years in which SAT/ACT submission was optional.
SUNY’s enrollment has decreased by 20% over the past 10 years, according to the New York Post, though King did not cite the number as a reason for eliminating the testing requirement.
“Each SUNY campus will continue its longstanding commitment to a holistic review of student applications that includes grades, program of study, academic achievements, non-academic achievements and other activities that allow for the evaluation of the potential success of a candidate for admission,” King said.
Anthony DeCicco is the Editor-in-Chief and can be reached at anthony.decicco@ubspectrum.com
Anthony DeCicco is the Editor-in-Chief of The Spectrum. His words have appeared in outlets such as SLAM Magazine andSyracuse.com. In 2020, he was awarded First Prize for Sports Column Writing at the Society of Professional Journalists' Region 1 Mark of Excellence Awards. In his free time, he can be found watching ‘90s Knicks games and reading NFL Mock Drafts at 3 a.m.
