The Top Ten Percent Plan is helping to increase the number and diversity of students applying for and enrolling in Texas colleges and universities. It has increased the number of high schools that are sending their students to the state’s top institutions. Students who graduate in the top 10 percent of their high school class are granted automatic admission to Texas state universities. The students must still apply and fund their college education.

Over time, officials at the University of Austin and a few policymakers have attempted to weaken the Top Ten Percent Plan. To help inform these discussions, IDRA has provided data, testimony and other information.

Update on Texas Top Ten Percent Plan for Your Students (September 2009) – factsheet for schools and others to distribute regarding slight changes made to the plan in 2009 and effective in fall of 2011. Available in PDF format.

Information for the 2009 Legislative Session

• Read Top 10 Myths of the Top Ten Percent Plan
• Read Top Myths of the Top Ten Percent Plan – Part II (myths 11-15)
• Read IDRA’s Analysis of Minority Student Access to the University of Texas at Austin (two page analysis)
• Read A Look at the Top Ten Percent Plan Debate (one page overview)
• Read testimony text
• See research summary
• See how many students in your high school would lose guaranteed admission if the proposed caps are adopted
• See how many students in your school district would lose guaranteed admission if the proposed caps are adopted
• See how many students in your county would lose guaranteed admission if the proposed caps are adopted
• See how many minority students your high school would lose guaranteed admission if the proposed caps are adopted
• See the resolution by the Canutillo ISD Board of Trustees in support of the Top Ten Percent Plan (pdf)

Information for the 2007 Legislative Session

In 2007, IDRA compiled and analyzed available data on the students entering the University of Texas at Austin and all the Texas high schools that contributed graduating seniors to those incoming freshmen classes between the years of 1995 and 2006.