Michigan Students Applying to College Are At a Disadvantage

A little-known law passed by the Michigan legislature many years ago is currently putting students from Michigan public schools at a disadvantage when applying to college.

The current law requires public high schools to post every students Michigan Merit Exam (MME) scores on their high school transcript.  MME scores include the results of the SAT that’s given in school.

However, a good number of colleges no longer require students to submit test scores when applying for admission, leaving it up to the student to decide if they want to submit them, or have their application evaluated without them.  Michigan public school students with low SAT scores don’t have that option; state law requires high schools to put the scores on the student’s transcript, putting their applications at a higher risk of being rejected.

Bills introduced in the Michigan House, HB 4810 and 4811, would eliminate the requirement for scores to be posted on transcripts, leaving it up to students to decide if test scores should be sent with transcripts.  The bills would also eliminate the Writing requirement of the MME, a change that’s needed due to the elimination of the SAT Writing test as part of the national SAT.

The bills are currently being stalled in the House Education Committee, and time is of the essence. Unless these bills are passed by the end of June, next year’s Michigan public school seniors will have no choice but to submit their SAT scores with college applications this fall. 

Those wishing to urge the committee to take action on HB 4810 and 4811 should contact committee clerk Taylor Thrush at tthrush@house.mi.gov