Major Academic Change Coming for All 64 SUNY Schools, Including UAlbany

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, The State University of New York (SUNY) made a temporary change to the admissions requirements for their 64 member schools. That change is now officially permanent, per a unanimous vote by the board of trustees, meaning the process by which students are admitted to New York's state schools has changed for the foreseeable future.

These are the latest details of the latest major SUNY admissions overhaul.

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SUNY Votes to Remove Test Score Requirement from Admissions Process

A story from The New York Post shared an update that, after a unanimous vote by the SUNY board of trustees, the system will no longer require students to provide scores from ACT or SAT standardized tests in the application process for its 64 member schools.

This is a huge decision, one which makes a temporary change made in 2020 in response to the pandemic into a permanent policy from here on out. It is not, however, a very uncommon decision.

The Post cites a study done by FairTest.org which calculated the amount of institutions in the United States who have also made the decision to go "test-optional" in their admissions process. A whopping 80% of schools are now not requiring standardized test scores in order for a student to be admitted for the fall of 2023, per the study.

Given that numerous institutions have already made this decision over the past few years, the decision itself by SUNY isn't unprecedented.

What's a bit more remarkable about this change, though, is the fact that it impacts a total of 64 colleges/universities across the state. Come the fall of 2023, receiving a college education in the Empire State will become much easier for the tens of thousands of students who want to attend a New York state school.

With that being the case, the question now becomes this: will enrollment in New York's state schools rebound? The Post notes that the SUNY system has seen a drop in enrollment of about 20% over the last decade, with more students choosing to attend private schools, or leave New York for college altogether.

Though representatives from The State University of New York didn't say this themselves, one has to imagine that this decision was motivated by that downward trend.

Now, we're all curious to see what happens next.