Texas House Bill 588, commonly referred to as the "Top 10% Rule", is a
TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
law passed in 1997.
The law guarantees Texas students who graduated in the top ten percent of their
high schoolHigh school is the name used in some parts of the world, particularly in Scotland, Northern America and Oceania, to describe an institution that provides all or part of secondary education...
class automatic admission to all state-funded universities. The bill was created as a means to avoid the stipulations from the
Hopwood v. TexasHopwood v. Texas, 78 F.3d 932 , was the first successful legal challenge to a university's affirmative action policy in student admissions since Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265...
case banning the use of affirmative action.
The law only guarantees
admission into university.
Texas House Bill 588, commonly referred to as the "Top 10% Rule", is a
TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
law passed in 1997.
The law guarantees Texas students who graduated in the top ten percent of their
high schoolHigh school is the name used in some parts of the world, particularly in Scotland, Northern America and Oceania, to describe an institution that provides all or part of secondary education...
class automatic admission to all state-funded universities. The bill was created as a means to avoid the stipulations from the
Hopwood v. TexasHopwood v. Texas, 78 F.3d 932 , was the first successful legal challenge to a university's affirmative action policy in student admissions since Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265...
case banning the use of affirmative action.
The law only guarantees
admission into university. Students must still find the means to pay, and may not achieve their desired choice of major. (Another existing law, which preceded 588, provides a full tuition scholarship for the class valedictorian of a Texas high school for their freshman year at a state public school.)
The law has drawn praise and criticism alike. Supporters of the rule argue that it ensures geographic and ethnic diversity in public universities. They also point out that students admitted under the legislation performed better in college than their counterparts. The law has been blamed for keeping students not in the top ten percent but with other credentials, such as high SAT scores or leadership and extracurricular experience, out of the larger "flagship" state universities, such as
The University of Texas at AustinThe University of Texas at Austin is a public research university located in Austin, Texas, United States, and is the flagship institution of The University of Texas System. The main campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol...
(UT-Austin) and
Texas A&M UniversityTexas A&M University, often referred to as A&M or TAMU, is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas. It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The seventh-largest university in the United States, A&M enrolls over 48,000 students in ten...
. UT-Austin has argued for several years that the law has come to account for too many of its entering students, with 81 percent of the 2008 freshmen having enrolled under it.
Some administrators, such as former University of Texas at Austin president
Larry FaulknerLarry Faulkner was the twenty-seventh president of The University of Texas at Austin. Faulkner is, as of January 31, 2006, President of .On June 30, 2005, he announced that he would step down from his post in the spring of 2006. In December 2005, William C...
, have advocated capping the number of top ten percent students for any year at one half of the incoming class. Others have suggested a move to a top seven percent law. However, until May 2009 the
Texas LegislatureThe Legislature of the State of Texas is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Texas. The legislature is a bicameral body composed of a 31-member Senate and a 150-member House of Representatives. The Legislature meets at the Capitol in Austin...
had not revised the law in any way since its inception. A 2007 measure (HB78) was introduced during the 80th Regular Session (2007) but never made it out of committee.
Under legislation approved in May 2009 by the Texas House as part of the
81st Regular SessionThe 81st Texas Legislature began meeting in regular session on 11 January 2009. The regular session adjourned sine die on June 1, 2009.Rick Perry, the Governor of Texas, called a special session of the Legislature on July 1, 2009...
(Senate Bill 175), UT-Austin (but no other state universities) was allowed to trim the number of students it accepts under the 10% rule; UT-Austin could limit those students to 75 percent of entering in-state freshmen from Texas. The university would admit the top 1 percent, the top 2 percent and so forth until the cap is reached, beginning with the 2011 entering class.
UT SystemThe University of Texas System comprises fifteen educational institutions in Texas, of which nine are for academy universities and six are health institutions. The UT System also offers online courses and degrees from UT institutions via the UT TeleCampus. The system is headquartered in Downtown...
Chancellor
Francisco CigarroaFrancisco G. Cigarroa is a medical doctor and Chancellor of the University of Texas System. He is also the first Hispanic to serve as president of the UT Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas....
and UT-Austin President
William Powers Jr.William Charles Powers Jr. is the 28th president of The University of Texas at Austin, a position he has held since February 1, 2006....
had sought a cap of about 50 percent, but lawmakers (led by Representatives
Dan BranchDan Branch is a Member of the Texas House of Representatives from Dallas, Texas, U.S.A. First elected in 2002, as a Republican, Branch is currently in his fourth term representing District 108, the "heart of Dallas", which includes Downtown, Uptown, Historic East Dallas, the Greenland Hills,...
(R-Dallas) and Rep.
Mike VillarrealMichael U. “Mike” Villarreal is an American state politician serving as a member of the Texas House of Representatives from a district centered in north central San Antonio...
(D-San Antonio)) brokered the compromise.