RALEIGH — At a meeting earlier this month, the UNC Board of Governors voted to extend waiving the SAT and ACT test requirement for admissions for all UNC System schools through fall 2024. The standardized test requirement for admissions was waived due to the pandemic in both 2020 and 2021.
The Board of Governors (BOG) approved previously discussed out-of-state undergraduate enrollment cap changes for certain schools that will take effect this coming fall semester.
Changes made during the pandemic raised the cap historically black colleges and universities (HCBUs) to 25% for students entering in fall of 2021. In the past, UNC System schools had allowed up to 18% of its student population to be from outside the state.
The BOG increased N.C. A&T and N.C. Central University’s cap to 35% and raised Elizabeth City State University’s to 50%. The caps on Fayetteville State University and Winston‐Salem State University remained unchanged at 25%.
The out-of-state enrollment cap will stay at 18% for the system’s other schools, including its flagship school, UNC-Chapel Hill.
The increase in caps comes as enrollment in higher education institutions nationally has seen a sharp decline since the pandemic.
According to data published in November of 2021 by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center (NSCRC), there has been an almost 8% drop in undergraduate students since 2019.
NSCRC’s most recent report in January of 2022 shows the enrollment decline continuing, with undergraduate enrollment falling by 3.1%, an estimated 465,300 students, over last year.
“Higher education enrollment fell a further 2.7% in the fall of 2021 following a 2.5 percent drop in the preceding fall,” NSCRC reported. “Continued enrollment losses in the pandemic represent a total two-year decline of 5.1% or 938,000 students since fall 2019.”
