Alternatives in Florida and California

According to an article by Peter Hinrich entitled, The Effects of Affirmative Action Bans on College Enrollment, Educational Attainment, and the Demographic Composition of Universities, the following alternatives to affirmative action (similar to the 10% plan in Texas) currently exist:


California:

"Under California’s 'Eligibility in the Local Context' policy, those in the top four percent of their high school class are guaranteed admission to at least one campus of the University of California."

According to the University of California's site for student affairs,

"The ELC program fulfills an important UC admissions goal: to recognize and reward the academic accomplishment of students who have made the most of the opportunities available to them. To be designated as ELC, a student must have attended an eligible, participating California high school, satisfactorily completed a specific pattern of 11 UC-approved courses prior to the start of senior year, and have a UC-calculated GPA that meets or exceeds the top 9 percent GPA benchmark established by UC for their school. To maintain the ELC status, the student must maintain a 3.0 GPA and submit an official copy of ACT with Writing or SAT Reasoning Test scores."


 Florida:

"Under Florida’s Talented 20 Program, those in the top twenty percent of their high school class are guaranteed admission to at least one public university in Florida."


According to the Florida Department of Education website,

In order to qualify for the Talented Twenty Program, the student must:

• Be enrolled in a Florida public high school and graduate with a standard diploma
• Be ranked in the top 20% of the class after the posting of seventh semester grades
• Submit test scores from the Scholastic Reasoning Test of the College Board or from the ACT of the American College Testing program prior to enrollment to a university in the State University System
• Complete all eighteen core course requirements for state university admission.

The Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at UCLA criticized the program by arguing that it is "not race-neutral and is not an effective alternative to race-conscious affirmative action." The website argues that,

1. "The Talented 20 plan has led to the admission of very few students to the state university system who would not have been admitted under pre-existing, non-race-conscious rules."
   
2. "The Talented 20 plan provided no guarantee of admission to the two most highly selective campuses in the system, the University of Florida (UF) and Florida State University (FSU)."
   
3. "Only an insignificant number of 'newly eligible' minority students achieved access to the system."
   
4. "The Talented 20 includes far more White and Asian students than Blacks and Hispanics, the two groups most underrepresented at UF and FSU."
   
5. "The minimal success of the plan relies on race-attentive recruitment, retention, and financial aid policies."