Georgia system waives ACT, SAT requirements for most universities

The University System of Georgia will temporarily waive requiring ACT or SAT scores for admission this fall at 23 of its 26 colleges and universities. (David Tonelson/Dreamstime/TNS)

Credit: TNS

Credit: TNS

The University System of Georgia will temporarily waive requiring ACT or SAT scores for admission this fall at 23 of its 26 colleges and universities. (David Tonelson/Dreamstime/TNS)

Students interested in applying to take undergraduate courses at most public universities in Georgia this fall won’t need to submit an ACT or SAT score to enroll.

The University System of Georgia announced this week it will temporarily waive test score requirements for admission at 23 of its 26 colleges and universities.

The waiver does not include applicants to Georgia College & State University, Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia, which are the system’s most academically competitive schools. Most applicants to those schools have already submitted their forms for fall enrollment.

Students must still meet all other admission requirements, including adjusted minimum grade-point average eligibility thresholds for each University System sector, which are 3.4 for research universities, 3.2 for comprehensive universities and 3.0 for state universities.

State colleges have open admission policies and accept all qualified applicants.

Students seeking the Georgia Lottery-funded Zell Miller Scholarship, which pays the full tuition at University System schools, must also submit ACT or SAT scores. The lottery-funded HOPE Scholarship, which covers most of the tuition at University System schools, does not require ACT or SAT scores.

The University System, along with many colleges and universities, has waived the scores for college applications since the coronavirus pandemic because of various difficulties administering the exams.

University System officials announced in May it would resume test score admission requirements for Spring 2022 and subsequent semesters. However, system officials said they decided on the temporary waiver because many of its colleges and universities are still experiencing a higher number of incomplete applications.