Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Access to selective institutions of higher education is a contentious issue. The University of Texas at Austin has been at the epicenter of this debate. Following the Hopwood v. Texas case, Texas implemented the Top Ten Percent rule, which allows Texas high school graduates in the top decile of graduating classes to be automatically admitted to any public university in the state. The University of Texas at Austin, a state flagship institution, contends that this heavy-handed policy precludes the university from shaping a diverse student population. In response to this concern, the state legislature passed Senate Bill 175 in 2009, which limits automatic admissions at The University of Texas at Austin to no more than seventy-five percent of first-time resident freshmen. To limit the number of students that are automatically admitted, the university implemented a more stringent requirement for automatic admissions. For example, UT Austin announced that only the top 6% of high school graduates will be automatically admitted in the Fall of 2019. The effect of a more stringent threshold on the university’s ability to accomplish its diversity goal is uncertain. Therefore, we use administrative data and event study analysis to examine the impacts of Senate Bill 175 on students’ applications, the applicant pools’ attributes and diversity at The University of Texas at Austin.