When my friends Martin Bowers and Erben Schuldt and I were having lunch together last week, we began talking about how we had managed to get our college degrees here in the state of Texas. 

When we graduated from Galveston’s Ball High School in 1958, each of us was assured that we could enroll in the fall at the University of Texas in Austin.  And the tuition was $100 per semester, a fee almost any student could handle, and a part-time job plus working in the summers would take care of the living expenses.

The University of North Texas in Denton, where I was enrolled for a graduate degree six years later charged $75 per semester.  Part-time jobs were plentiful.  Many public school teachers were able to get their advanced degrees there within a few summers.

Other taxpayer supported colleges and universities in Texas were also affordable.  And that was because Texas lawmakers understood a basic principal:  taxpayers are supporting Texas higher education so that those who meet the academic admissions requirements can advance their learning.

After all, society works best when everyone is able to maximize his ability and chances of contributing to the whole.   Students who had completed the College Preparatory Plan in a Texas public high school could continue toward an advanced degree from a Texas state college or university. 

In recent years, things have changed in Texas, and perhaps in many other states as well.  The cost of admissions in Texas taxpayer-supported colleges and universities has been stretched from $100 to many thousands.  Over and above the generous taxpayer support, these schools are demanding higher and higher contributions from the students.

Now we learn that the following admission rule is preventing most applicants from admission at the University of Texas, irrespective of their financial well-being. 

Top 10 Percent Rule for Admissions

"Students who are in the top 10 percent of their graduating class are eligible for automatic admission to any public university in Texas.

"To be eligible for automatic admission, a student must:

• Graduate in the top 10 percent of his or her class at a public or private high school in Texas, or
• Graduate in the top 10 percent of his or her class from a high school operated by the U.S. Department of Defense and be a Texas resident or eligible to pay resident tuition;
• Enroll in college no more than two years after graduating from high school; and
• Submit an application to a Texas public university for admission before the institution's application deadline (check with the university regarding specific deadlines).
• Students admitted through this route may still be required to provide SAT or ACT scores, although these scores are not used for admissions purposes. Students must also take the THEA test, unless exempted from the test requirement. Check with the admissions office regarding THEA, SAT, and ACT requirements.

"After a student is admitted, the university may review the student's high school records to determine if the student is prepared for college-level work. A student who needs additional preparation may be required to take a developmental, enrichment, or orientation course during the semester prior to the first semester of college.

"'Admission to a university does not guarantee acceptance into a particular college of study or department, however."

So an audit has now shown that what in reality has happened is that less than 20% of the students being granted admission to UT were NOT in the top 10% of their high school graduating class.  And you can extrapolate that it also means the African-Americans and Mexican-Americans are now almost totally excluded.

Private schools can have these admission requirements.  However, one has to wonder how it can possibly be constitutional for public funded schools to be able to, and further, why Texans continue to vote for state representatives who support this kind of foolishness.

Texas representatives need to be held accountable for this mess.