Test-optional admissions at Iowa regent campuses show gains

IOWA CITY — With enough years now passed to determine how — if at all — the Iowa Board of Regents’ test-optional admissions change in 2020 has correlated with student success, new data reveals four-year graduation rates of those who didn’t submit test results to be on par with students who did but still earned lower admission scores.

That’s a bit different from data presented in 2022 — when regents made the COVID-era change permanent and officially removed from their admission policy the requirement that applicants to the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa submit their SAT or ACT scores.

The board at the time retained its “Regent Admission Index” guaranteeing applicants automatic admission to any of the public universities with an index score of at least 245 — calculated using a formula involving grade-point average, ACT composite score and the number of years of core high school courses completed.

But it also carved out an exception allowing the campuses to use “individual review” for first-time undergraduates “who do not have all components used” in the index.

“The likelihood of graduating in four years was fairly consistent based on GPA, irrespective of the ACT score level,” board staff suggested in 2022 in support of their recommendation to go test-optional. “While standardized tests do provide some additional information on student preparation, they are not strong predictors of student success outside of first year college grades.”

New graduation rate data out this week on students admitted under the regents’ test-optional policy shows they graduate in four years at a similar rate to students who earned index scores in the 245 to 254 range — with 245 being the lowest a student can earn and still get automatic admission.

Based on the board’s index calculator, a student can earn a score of 247 with a 3.0 GPA, 24 on the ACT and 17 completed core courses. The highest a student can earn tops 315 with a perfect 36 on the ACT, 5.0 GPA and more than enough core courses.

Students admitted under the test-optional policy in 2020 had a four-year graduation rate of 44 percent, slightly below the bottom index tier’s 46 percent for that cohort. The total four-year average at the campuses across all admissions index scores was 60 percent.

The four-year rate for test-optional students increased for the 2021 cohort to 54 percent, falling between the lowest group’s 49 percent and the 67 percent achieved by a second-lowest group earning index scores between 255 and 284.

Setting records

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Looking across all undergraduates, Iowa’s public universities last year set personal bests in the rates at which they retained and graduated students — with the campuses’ average four-year graduation rate reaching an all-time high of 61 percent, a nearly 75 percentage point increase from 35 percent in 2000.

The campuses also set collective records in the five-, six-, and three-year graduation rates — reaching 74 percent, 75 percent and 7 percent, respectively.

“The regent universities continue to show steady growth in the percentage of students who graduate within three years,” according to the report, highlighting a massive spike at the UNI from 4 percent a decade ago to 14 percent for the most recent cohort.

Both UNI and the UI set institutional four-year graduation rate records at 56 percent and 66 percent, respectively. ISU’s four-year rate dropped 2 percentage points from last year to 58 — which still is the second-highest rate on ISU record.

Iowa universities for years have been pushing to improve four-year graduation rates — both to help meet Iowa’s workforce needs and to save students money — even as six-year rates have and continue to be the mandated standard in university reporting as they better reflect “the reality of modern student pathways, including working, transferring, or changing majors,” according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

The campuses’ six-year rates have been holding strong, too — with the UI setting a record at 76 percent and ISU and UNI both matching past records at 77 and 69 percent, respectively.

Regarding retention, the UI set a record with 91 percent of its 2024 entry class returning for a second year, according to the report. Collectively, the campuses upped retention rates from 88 to 89 percent — an all-time best and well above the national average of 79 percent for four-year public universities, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

Demographic differences

But even with those gains, the campuses still report demographic success gaps — with students who identify as white recording a four-year graduation rate of 63 percent, compared with 47 percent for “underrepresented” minorities and 52 percent for “racial and ethnic” minorities.

The retention gap is a bit narrower, with 90 percent of white students returning for a second year compared with 85 percent for racial and ethnic minorities. And, when it comes to gender, female students outpace male students in four-year graduation rates — at 65 compared with 56 percent.

Looking across the state — including both public and private colleges and universities — only Grinnell College graduates more of its students within six years at 88 percent than ISU’s 77 percent and UI’s 76 percent.

The regent universities account for the majority of Iowa’s graduates every year. Combined, the three public universities in 2024 awarded 61 percent of all bachelor’s degrees in Iowa — amounting to 12,431 total, led by ISU’s 5,669 degrees.

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com