University of Tennessee System guarantees admission for top high school seniors

Keenan Thomas, Knoxville News Sentinel
Updated ·4 min read
1

Thousands of top-achieving Tennessee high school students will be guaranteed a spot at any University of Tennessee System campus they apply to after the Board of Trustees approved a new admissions policy Sept. 8.

This initiative aims to keep Tennessee students in-state, give better opportunities to students from rural and urban schools, and fight the misconception that getting into a UT System school - especially the flagship Knoxville campus - is impossible.

The top high school seniors from public, private and charter schools and home-schooled Tennessee seniors will be guaranteed admission to any UT System university starting with the fall 2024 semester if they meet at least one of two criteria:

  • Finish in the top 10% of their graduating high school class.

  • Achieve a 4.0 grade-point average.

UT Chattanooga, UT Martin and UT Southern have an additional way to qualify:

  • Achieve a 3.2 GPA and a composite ACT score of 23 or higher (or an SAT score of 1130-1150 or higher).

The Board of Trustees will consider next year whether the third criteria could qualify students for guaranteed admission to UT Knoxville, where the requirements are higher. The board plans to study the effects of the program on UT Knoxville's already record enrollment and stretched housing capacity.

Students and families will need to meet the application deadlines for fall 2024 to qualify for this program.

In an effort to reduce stress for students, UT campuses will inform applicants quickly if they qualify for a guaranteed admission spot, UT System President Randy Boyd told Knox News.

For the flagship Knoxville campus, he said housing is the biggest hurdle in meeting lofty enrollment goals and welcoming more in-state students.

"We feel like we still have the capacity to meet the increase in Tennessee students," Boyd said of UT Knoxville specifically. "The difference will be it will affect the ratio of in-state versus out-of-state, but we will be able to manage the housing. However, we do have a housing shortage. We would like to increase our enrollment from 36,000 to 41,000 before the end of the decade, and to get there we have to increase housing."

Three new residence halls are slated to open by fall 2026 at UT Knoxville, providing housing for 2,500 students. Additionally, the Knoxville campus signed a master lease with Lakemoor Station Apartments to house students for five years.

How University of Tennessee acceptance rate for in-state students could change

Students walk past Fred Brown Hall during the first day of the fall semester on the University of Tennessee's campus in Knoxville on Aug. 23.
Students walk past Fred Brown Hall during the first day of the fall semester on the University of Tennessee's campus in Knoxville on Aug. 23.

There were 64,580 students who graduated from public high schools in Tennessee in 2022. Under the guaranteed admission initiative, about 6,400 public school students from last year would have qualified as being in the top 10%.

Enrollment leaders project the Knoxville campus will receive 5-10% more applications from in-state students for fall 2024.

This initiative will work in tandem with UT Promise, a university program that pays last-dollar tuition and fees for students (last-dollar aid covers tuition and fees not covered by other grants or scholarships).

Students who receive guaranteed admittance also will receive UT Promise funding if they qualify. Even if a student doesn't apply for UT Promise, the financial aid office will alert eligible students.

It will be easier for students to qualify for UT Promise starting for the fall 2024 semester. Students in households making $75,000 of adjusted gross income or less will receive the scholarship after financial aid is applied. Boyd said that new standard means close to two-thirds of all Tennessee households qualify for UT Promise.

More about University of Tennessee's guaranteed admissions policy

There are some additional guidelines for students seeking guaranteed admission.

  • This policy guarantees acceptance to a UT campus. It does not guarantee acceptance into a particular college, school, department, major or program.

  • Class rank and GPA will be based on the semester transcript following their junior year.

  • UT Knoxville uses a weighted core GPA to calculate a student's GPA in 16 academic subjects.

  • ACT and SAT scores are required for applications.

Boyd added that these qualifications are only for the automatic early admittance, not general admission. He also said these criteria can be changed based on results and feedback.

Keenan Thomas is a higher education reporter. Email keenan.thomas@knoxnews.com. Twitter @specialk2real.

Support strong local journalism by subscribing to knoxnews.com/subscribe.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: University of Tennessee guarantees admissions for high school seniors