Senator Augustine seeks baseline 'direct admissions' pathway to keep students in-state

Sen. Malcolm Augustine told the Senate Appropriations Committee that SB324 would create a baseline direct-admissions program for select Maryland higher-education institutions, modeled after conditional-admission practices used through the Common App.

Augustine said the measure grew from conversations with Coppin State, which has used a Common App direct-admissions mechanism to issue conditional offers when applicants meet institution-specified requirements. "Coppin State came and said, hey, listen... they've used that program and it's been successful for them," Augustine said, describing the bill as a way to replicate that approach at scale in Maryland.

Under the bill, participating institutions would sign memoranda of understanding with the state and with each other; the program would use the state's college-and-career readiness standard as part of eligibility criteria but not as the sole requirement. Augustine said the intention is voluntary participation by institutions and that a work group would create operational standards, with a report due in July 2027 and fuller program roll-out afterward.

Committee questions focused on how SB324 differs from earlier "top 10%" proposals. Augustine said those earlier bills targeted flagship institutions, while SB324 is aimed at schools such as Coppin and Towson that want to use conditional-admission letters to broaden access and retention. He noted the bill is designed to improve retention of students who otherwise leave the state for college.

Augustine asked for a favorable report; no vote on SB324 was recorded in the transcript excerpt.

The committee moved on to additional bills after brief questions about the proposed baseline and institution-specific standards.