Mitchell Schnurman 
It's time to invest in our state's colleges
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
For many people, college has become unaffordable. Is it becoming inaccessible, too?
Not at most schools, which still admit almost two-thirds of qualified applicants. But in-state students whose hearts are set on the University of Texas at Austin had better be in the top 10 percent of their graduating class.
Otherwise, they have a better chance of getting into Yale or Harvard.
This is a dramatic shift from even a decade ago, when 73 percent of applicants were admitted to the state's flagship university. Now, it's more like 4 in 10 -- and far, far fewer if you're not a top 10-percenter.
This reality has forced scores of Texas students and their parents to adjust their ambitions. More than a few are taking their money to big state schools like LSU, Arkansas, Georgia and Oklahoma, and research suggests that many are unlikely to return to live here.
Much of the debate on this topic centers on the top-10 law and how it's crowding out some excellent students who are also class presidents or state band champs. But there's a broader, more crucial issue at play: How do we nurture enough great schools so students believe they have a good alternative to UT, Texas A&M and Rice?
"This capacity crisis is the canary in the [coal] mine," Bill Powers, the UT president, said during a telephone interview last week. "It's telling us that we don't have enough high-quality capacity at our public universities in Texas."
The state's population is growing in size and sophistication, and that alone justifies a significant improvement and expansion in universities. That's expensive, of course, but such an investment would keep more Texas talent in the state while also helping recruit companies and highly educated workers. It would attract more federal research dollars, too, an advantage that California and Massachusetts have long enjoyed.
Because of Texas' size, growth and pockets of wealth, it can legitimately aspire to become a leading economic and cultural center. But it's hard to imagine reaching that goal without increasing the quality and depth of our colleges.
Texas has many strong schools, both public and private. They're growing and getting better, thanks to the general increase in college applicants nationwide, and perhaps because the 10 percent law has pushed some strong students their way.
But the perception persists that UT, A&M and Rice are significantly better, and those three are indeed rated as the state's top research schools.
If others narrow that gap, that would take away some of the sting of the top-10 law -- or whatever merit system is used to screen out many applicants at UT. More students who aren't accepted at their first choice may be mildly disappointed, rather than devastated, Powers said.
He points to the University of California system as an example. When students don't get into UC-Berkeley (where he graduated with a chemistry degree in 1967), they may be accepted at UC-San Diego or UC-Irvine.
"They're disappointed, but they still feel like they're going to a great school," Powers said.
California does have a beautiful coastline, dotted with public universities and a lot more per-capita funding for higher education.
In Texas, education leaders have designated seven emerging research universities, including two large schools: Texas Tech and the University of Houston. At UT-Dallas, President David Daniel has proposed that lawmakers offer incentive funds to give each school a fair shot at increasing its stature.
The state could provide matching funds for merit-based scholarships, graduate-student fellowships and endowed professorships, he says. This would limit political fights over which schools get new money and reward school leaders who find a way to attract top talent.
Powers tried to get the Legislature to amend the 10 percent law last year, and he's staying on the case. He proposes limiting the guaranteed acceptances to half the freshman class; the rest would be selected on traditional criteria -- class rank, sure, but also SAT scores, leadership, outside activities and other traits.
Eventually, UT-Austin may end up with a freshman class in which nearly everyone is ranked in the top 10 percent. That has already happened at UC-Berkeley and UCLA, but those schools don't grant automatic admission to a 10-percenter, and they don't consider class rank only.
The quality of the applicants simply rose, because the size of the applicant pool exploded. UT-Austin has seen a surge, too: Ten years ago, 16,797 applied to the flagship, officials said; this year, the number was 29,223, an increase of 74 percent in the past decade.
About 7,200 will enroll in the freshman class, only 500 more than in 1998. (The school actually accepts thousands more, knowing that many will not attend.)
Next fall, UT-Austin projects that up to 85 percent of its freshmen slots will automatically go to top 10-percenters. That share has more than doubled since the Legislature created the law a decade ago, guaranteeing that anyone ranked in the top 10 percent would be admitted to any public school in the state.
The rule has affected UT-Austin the most, and Texas A&M to a lesser degree. Other public schools have no problem accommodating those students and still considering the merits of other applicants.
Strip out the automatic slots at UT-Austin, and that leaves about 800 freshman positions next fall, with 13,000 Texas high school seniors vying for them.
Their odds of getting in are less than 1 in 10, on par with the most selective universities in the country.
This has spawned an outcry from parents and students, who are sometimes dismayed to learn that certain public schools have become as elite as the privates. This month, a student also filed suit against UT-Austin, claiming that she was rejected for the freshman class because of a race-based admissions program. The Richmond, Texas, senior ranks in the top 12 percent of her class, is an accomplished cellist and participates in many extracurriculars.
Powers recently sent a letter to friends and alumni, criticizing the top-10 law and trying to head off the flood of complaints that accompany the spring's rejection letters. He pointed out that students are properly advised to be well-rounded and involved in their community.
"Then when they want to come to UT, they find out only one thing matters," Powers wrote, referring to class rank. "That's a terrible message to send to our young people."
He's right, and that should be changed. But it's even worse that many believe that they must leave the state to match the experience they'll never get in Austin.
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