<p>103AM</p>
<p>Message by email to Texas Alumni</p>
<p>Summary:</p>
<p>a. Students admitted under class rank requirement can comprise no more then 75% of Freshman class.</p>
<p>b. OOS and international can comprise up to 10% of Freshman.</p>
<p>c. Further in the message, threatened legislation to remove tuition setting power from the regents failed, but tuition increases are limited to 4.65%</p>
<p>The first half of the full message:</p>
<p>"A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT | JULY 2009</p>
<p>Dear Friends,</p>
<p>Now that the 81st Legislative Session has adjourned, I want to share the outcomes of several issues important to UT Austin.</p>
<p>The Top 10% Law Senate Bill 175, sponsored by Sen. Florence Shapiro and Rep. Dan Branch in the House, limited the number of top 10% Texas high school graduates automatically admitted to UT Austin. Instead of being required to admit all top 10% graduates of Texas public high schools, the new law restricts automatic admits at UT to 75% of the Texas high school students in our freshman class. The other 25% will be admitted based on all of an applicants qualifications, not merely class rank. The bill also limits the total out-of-state and international students to 10% of the freshman class. We currently have about 8% out-of-state and foreign students.</p>
<p>This legislation will give us much-needed control over our admissions process and help us develop a more ethnically and geographically diverse student body. It required enormous effort by many people, including Sen. Shapiro, Rep. Branch, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, and Texas House Speaker Joe Straus. While we will not gain as much flexibility as some proposed legislation offered, S.B. 175 enables us to regain control over the size of our freshman enrollment and gives us the ability to fill several important academic programs that dont attract enough top 10% students. This legislation, which takes effect in fall 2011, is a great improvement."</p>