AMNA NAWAZ: Headlines around higher education this year have centered on protests, free speech and students safety.

But some important changes on the academic and admissions front have gotten less attention, including some schools turning back to standardized testing after deciding they would no longer require it.

Paul Solman has that story for our latest series on Rethinking College.

KELLY DAMPHOUSSE, President, Texas State University: I was terrible in math.

PAUL SOLMAN: Meet Kelly Damphousse, president of Texas State University in San Marcos.

KELLY DAMPHOUSSE: So I end up going to community college, and I got a 2.54 GPA.

PAUL SOLMAN: When he made it to a four-year school, he was the first in his family, just like 43 percent of the 34,000 undergrads here at Texas State.

So you're sympathetic to the idea that tests should be optional.

KELLY DAMPHOUSSE: Yes.

Well, yes.

If I had had to take the test, I probably wouldn't have gotten into college.

PAUL SOLMAN: That test, the SAT, or ACT, which for years most colleges required for admission, research having shown test scores correlated with college GPAs.

But during the pandemic, many dropped the requirement.

Post-pandemic, Texas State remains test-optional.

And yet retention rates are still rising, while, more than ever: KELLY DAMPHOUSSE: We look like the state of Texas,the most diverse university in the state.

PAUL SOLMAN: One that welcomes students like the president once was.

KELLY DAMPHOUSSE: We are creating greater opportunities for people to access the opportunity to get a four-year college degree, something we know is a life-changing experience for these people.

PAUL SOLMAN: Just 40 minutes away, the University of Texas at Austin, 42,000 undergrads, average SAT 1355 out of 1600.

U.T.

also went test-optional during COVID, but it's now reinstated test scores, joining a host of other schools.

Why?

Yes, it's already selective, says U.T.

president Jay Hartzell.

JAY HARTZELL, President, The University of Texas at Austin: Anybody who applies from a Texas high school and is in the top 6 percent of their class is admitted.

PAUL SOLMAN: But, he emphasizes: JAY HARTZELL: That doesn't mean they're admitted to business or finance, for example, or computer science or liberal arts necessarily.

So we use the test scores historically to put them in the right schools and colleges when they get here, put them in the right spots to ultimately succeed.

PAUL SOLMAN: And reroute some of the automatic admits, though they might have had low test scores, and perhaps others, from difficult majors that might frustrate them, he says, even to the point of giving up.

So Hartzell thinks testing can be used compassionately, and should even improve a crucial objective, graduation rates, now at about 75 percent.

KENDRA STRANGE, Breakthrough Central Texas: I am excited for you both.

PAUL SOLMAN: But Kendra Strange, who helps low-income students prepare for college, begs to differ.

KENDRA STRANGE: There's so much that goes into deciding what you want to study in college.

And the test score alone doesn't necessarily indicate whether or not a student is going to be successful in one particular career or major.

For many students, what you find is, they're picking majors around their passion.

PAUL SOLMAN: And, to Strange, passion inspires grit, which she says is the real key to success.

KENDRA STRANGE: Maybe the student didn't test well.

Maybe the student is not good at timed tests.

It shouldn't equate to whether or not I'm going to be a successful as an engineer.

PAUL SOLMAN: Moreover, says admissions coach Yvonne Espinoza.

YVONNE ESPINOZA, College Counselor: Requiring testing can close doors for those students who don't have access to resources.

When test scores are required, my students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds were much less likely to apply because they would see what colleges were publishing on their Web sites as their average SAT score, and they were scoring well below that and didn't understand that that was OK for them because of the schools they went to, because they didn't have access to resources.

MIGUEL WASIELEWSKI, Head of Admissions, The University of Texas at Austin: I'm a first-generation student.

My mom didn't graduate high school.

PAUL SOLMAN: Head of admissions and U.T.

alum Miguel Wasielewski.

MIGUEL WASIELEWSKI: My dad didn't go to college.

And so we came from a very low-income background.

PAUL SOLMAN: And so kids like he was are those he cares most about.

And not only can the tests can and not only can the tests help from being overmatched in tough courses, he says, but, worse, for a school as rich in resources as U.T.

Austin, with test-optional: MIGUEL WASIELEWSKI: We were not putting somebody into a program that could have benefited from those resources.

So, with the reinstitute of those scores, we will be able to begin providing that additional support to them.

PAUL SOLMAN: Who is not getting in now because of test scores being required?

MIGUEL WASIELEWSKI: I would say that there's not a higher likelihood or unlikelihood of that student getting in.

It's just another variable that we have within the application.

PAUL SOLMAN: In fact -- and this is an argument you hear at other universities like MIT that have restored test scores - - more students from poor schools may now get in when compared to similar students from similar backgrounds in their region.

MIGUEL WASIELEWSKI: People have in their head things like 1500, 1600 SAT scores.

And so a student that doesn't have that level and maybe has like a 1200 SAT may say, you know what, I'm not going to submit that information to the university.

But then when we go in and contextually evaluate that student, and we see that they're in the 99th percentile of their high school with that score, that's a very meaningful figure.

PAUL SOLMAN: Moreover, the average high school grade has risen over time, shrinking the grade range, so-called grade inflation.

As a result, grades can mean less than they used to.

MIGUEL WASIELEWSKI: So while they may have had that 4.0 GPA, they're on the lower end of the standardized scores.

And that helps us to be able to understand that maybe the student is going to benefit from some resources that we have available here.

PAUL SOLMAN: Like what?

MIGUEL WASIELEWSKI: Things like being able to get placed into programs that puts you with mentors, being able to sit down with other students and get assistance, assistance with writing, assistance with tutoring for classes that they're attending.

PAUL SOLMAN: At the outreach nonprofit Breakthrough Central Texas, they provide such help to low-income students with college dreams early on.

KENDRA STRANGE: In fifth grade, we go into schools across Central Texas and we say, hey, are you the first in your family to go to college?

Are you from a traditionally underserved background?

Then we want to help you on your journey.

PAUL SOLMAN: Again, Breakthrough's Kendra Strange.

KENDRA STRANGE: We recognize that food insecurity, housing insecurity, mental health support, students can't think about performing well in school if they're not eating.

And so we support our students with wraparound services.

PAUL SOLMAN: Students like high school senior Samuel Bautista-Zamora.

SAMUEL BAUTISTA-ZAMORA, Student: My parents migrated from Mexico.

I think they barely graduated middle school, and they were just like, we really can't help you with this.

PAUL SOLMAN: He worried about taking the SAT because: SAMUEL BAUTISTA-ZAMORA: Well, SAT plays everybody in the -- puts everybody in the same field technically, but it's like some might have more resources.

Some might pay for private tutors, which, unfortunately, we don't have that luxury.

So, we -- I had to look for my own resources, spend time while balancing a job, taking care of my siblings, and still trying to do extracurriculars to boost my resume to be able to get to these schools without these SAT scores.

PAUL SOLMAN: But Bautista-Zamora took the test, got a 1060 the first time, then 1160, then 1310, but that last one was too late, so he submitted no scores, figuring: SAMUEL BAUTISTA-ZAMORA: My extracurriculars and my grades reflected better.

PAUL SOLMAN: And he got into U.T.

Austin.

High school junior Terrance Taylor Johnson is looking at U.T.

too.

TERRANCE TAYLOR JOHNSON, Student: I think my chances are pretty good.

I just need to focus on my test scores more.

I averaged 1080 on the -- I mean, 1060 on the first run, and so I need to do better on the next one.

PAUL SOLMAN: How did you feel during the test?

Did you -- were you nervous?

Were you not nervous?

TERRANCE TAYLOR JOHNSON: I was nervous because, on the PSAT, I had got an 830.

But then, as soon as I saw my test score, I was actually pretty happy how high it jumped.

PAUL SOLMAN: Jumped just above the national average of 1050.

Back on campus at U.T., freshman Aniya Matthews, who arrived here with a relatively low score for Austin, 1090.

ANIYA MATTHEWS, College Student: Some of my peers have thousand-dollar tutors they get for their SATs.

Now, me, I come from a low-income background, so there wasn't no help on that SAT.

PAUL SOLMAN: What were you applying for your major?

ANIYA MATTHEWS: I wanted to be a medical laboratory scientist.

But thank God I didn't get into that, because I realize that I do not like STEM.

PAUL SOLMAN: So the fact that they discouraged you from what you were originally going to go into it, maybe on the basis of your SAT, was a good thing?

ANIYA MATTHEWS: Yes, but I feel like, though, I feel like, when it comes to some students who have maybe a lower score who genuinely have a passion and want to go into, like, engineering, I do feel as though they definitely don't have that shot sometimes.

PAUL SOLMAN: And thus the question colleges face with requiring tests: Are they more or less likely to discourage the disadvantaged from pursuing their passion or even applying, weighed against signals that could help with admission, lead to savvier placement, and more resources to succeed?

For the "PBS NewsHour," Paul Solman in Central Texas.