Files
Abstract
Until 1996, colleges and universities in Texas were able to use race in the admissions process to help craft diverse incoming freshman classes. The Hopwood ruling that year severely jeopardized the ability of minority students, particularly African American and Hispanic students, to attend the college of their choice. As a result of decreasing minority enrollment rates, the Texas legislature passed and the governor signed the Top Ten Percent law. This race-neutral admissions plan grants high school students who graduate in the top ten percent of their class automatic admission to any public, four-year institution in the state. The majority of educational research conducted on this topic is focused on the flagship institutions in Texas.This study uses a difference-in-difference model with panel data to isolate the effect of the Top Ten Percent law in Texas on the racial diversity of non-flagship, four-year institutions in the state. Three race categories were used as dependent variables for the four models: (1) Percent first-time, first-year African American and Hispanic, (2) Percent first-time, first-year African American, and (3) Percent first-time, first-year Hispanic. Quantitative findings were then used to show how the Top Ten Percent law impacted each race category for Texas institutions. First, the findings indicate that when compared to the counterfactual institutions used in this study, and when controlling for population change and time, the Top Ten Percent law did increase minority enrollment rates at non-flagship, four-year institutions in Texas. Second, minority students chose to enroll in less selective institutions. Third, minority students preferred colleges and universities located in urban and suburban areas. If challenges to race-based admissions continue in the future, a percent plan could be a good race-neutral option for institutions and states to adopt.