O F F I C E O F L E G I S L A T I V E R E S E A R C H
P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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PA 24-47—SB 109
Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee
AN ACT MODIFYING THE CONNECTICUT AUTOMAT IC
ADMISSIONS PROGRAM
SUMMARY: This act modifies the academic threshold for student admission
through the Connecticut Automatic Admissions Program to “participating
institutions” (i.e., the four state universities, CT State Community College, Charter
Oak State College, and any other in-state higher education institution eligible to
participate in the program). Specifically, it requires (1) the Board of Regents for
Higher Education (BOR) to set a minimum unweighted grade point average (GPA)
for program applicants to qualify for automatic admission to participating
institutions and (2) these institutions to generally use this GPA as the threshold for
admission through the program. However, the act allows participating institutions
to set an additional academic threshold of performance on a nationally recognized
college readiness assessment administered to grade 11 students (e.g., the SAT).
Under prior law, BOR had to set a minimum class rank percentile and
participating institutions generally had to establish academic thresholds for
admission based on this metric but could also include performance on a college
readiness assessment.
The act also makes various conforming changes (e.g., requiring boards of
education to calculate the unweighted GPA of students who have completed grade
11, rather than BOR’s prior method for determining class rank percentile, to
determine whether the GPA meets BOR’s minimum).
By law, the Connecticut Automatic Admissions Program is a BOR-established
program that requires participating higher education institutions to automatically
admit an applicant as a full-time, first-year student to a Connecticut in-person
bachelor’s degree program if he or she meets certain eligibility requirements, which
include meeting or exceeding the academic threshold.
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2024