Texas 10% Rule

Students in Texas who graduate in the top 10% of their high school classes would get a scholarship worth around $1,500 per year to any state university but would not be guaranteed admission to the school of their choice under a plan approved Friday by the Texas Senate.

The state Senate voted 28-2 to cap at 60% percent the portion of a university's freshmen from Texas who must be admitted under a 10-year-old policy that guarantees a spot for students who finish in the top 10% at Texas public high schools.

The top 10 percent rule, passed in 1997, requires state universities to accept any Texas applicant who graduates in the top 10 percent of his or her class and I think this is good as the law offers a fair method, not based on race, for admitting a diverse freshman class of high-achieving students.

I believe it's a good rule for a lot of reasons because it's a more objective standard than what's been used in the past. It's been said that students in rural settings are helped greatly. There are arguements that the law unfairly hurts good, had working students from the top 20 percent of graduating classes at competitive high schools.



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