CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Students applying for admission to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as new freshmen for the fall 2019 semester will be able to self-report their standardized test scores, including the ACT, SAT, International English Language Testing System and Test of English as a Foreign Language.
Historically, students were required to have their test scores sent directly from the testing agency before an application for admission was considered complete. Moving forward, students will enter their highest scores and subscores directly within the application. Only students who are admitted to the university will then be asked to verify these scores prior to enrolling.
This change was made to improve accessibility for students applying to college. Students currently receive just four free score sends upon taking the ACT or SAT, prior to knowing their scores. They must then pay $12 to $13 per test administration to send additional scores to each school to which they are applying. Although ACT and SAT recently announced more free score sends for low-income students, school counselors have raised concerns about the administrative burden of helping students qualify for these sends, as well as for middle-income families.
“We work closely with school counselors who asked us to consider removing this financial barrier for students applying to the university,” said Andy Borst, the director of undergraduate admissions. “With our large application volume, we estimate that this change will help students collectively save almost $1 million per year.”
Princeton Review reports that more than 90 colleges across the nation are adopting similar policies.
The freshman application for admission to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for the fall 2019 semester will open Sept. 1. Students will be able to apply through either the Coalition or myIllini application.
For additional information, contact Admissions at admissions@illinois.edu or 217-333-0302.
