Rep. Villarreal’s take on top 8 percent

Wednesday, September 16, 2009 - Go to External Article

Austin American-Statesman: The Lowdown on Higher Education

By Ralph Haurwitz

I have a story in today’s paper about the announcement from the University of Texas that freshmen who want to enroll under the state’s automatic-admission law will need to rank in the top 8 percent rather than the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class. The new policy is effective for the fall 2011 entering class, meaning that the first students affected will be those who are currently high school juniors.

One lawmaker who has been following these matters closely is state Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, who was instrumental in crafting legislation earlier this year that gave UT authority to scale back its admission of top 10 percent students.

“It’s not a surprise,” Villarreal said of the announcement by UT President William Powers Jr. “When we were analyzing different options of how to bring the two sides together, the data that we were looking at told us if we capped it at 75 percent, the rule would be effectively a top 8 percent.”

The “two sides,” Villarreal said, were those who wanted to repeal the top 10 percent law and those who wanted no change whatsover. Of course, the 8 percent rule could evolve into a 7 percent rule, a 6 percent rule and so forth down the road as the state’s population increases.

“I think it’s important to recognize this is a short-term solution to a long-term challenge,” Villarreal said. “And that challenge is growing top-tier universities in Texas where students want to live and study.

“Students want to live and study in places like Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.”

What about Lubbock? I asked.

“Dallas, Houston and San Antonio,” he replied.