Bill would guarantee college admission for top-performing Maryland high school students
MARYLAND – Last year, The U.S. Supreme Court struck down affirmative action programs in college admissions which protected students against racial discrimination. That got Maryland lawmakers thinking about how learners across the state could be impacted. “That deeply concerned me due to the fact that we found that institutions that have gone to race neutral policies, the immediate impact is that you see the loss of diversity in the class,” Senator Malcolm Augustine said.
That’s where Senate Bill 5 comes in. It would guarantee college admission for Maryland high school students that graduate in the top 10% of their class. “While I initially did research on this with concern to diversity, I now see this as a matter of equity for across the entire state,” Senator Augustine said. “It provides a pathway for folks to know how they can gain admission as well as emphasizing the importance of doing well in school and getting good grades.”
Amongst the colleges and universities that would be required to develop new policies are the University System of Maryland, Morgan State University, and St. Mary’s College of Maryland.
University of Maryland Eastern Shore’s VP Of Enrollment Management & Student Experience Latoya Jenkins said that last fall they brought in a record-breaking freshman class. She added that this legislation could boost efforts to maximize enrollment. “We are excited about any opportunities that we would be able to engage students on a higher level and be able to bring them to our university to help cultivate their academic studies,” Jenkins said.
Bill Sponsor Senator Malcom Augustine told us that lawmakers have expressed concerns that high school achievement may not be a strong indicator of college readiness. Yet, UMES already has systems in place to ensure student success. “We have programs like our Summer Bridge Program that helps reduce the learning gap between high school graduation to the start of college. It also addresses anything else that will be needed for college level learning,” she said.
Other opposition to the bill was on whether or not that 10% percent of students would be a true representation of the diverse students in the state. Senator Augustine said that his search proves that it actually does. “There are places where that is not the case. The top 10% may be disproportionately from a group other than the actual population of the school. Those are places where we have some work to do for sure,” he said.
Senator Augustine added that this is a push to increase access to college, but said more work has to be done to make higher education more affordable.
