Unprepared college students forced to relearn 'middle school mathematics,' California professors reveal

Hundreds of University of California (UC) professors signed a letter demanding the reinstatement of SAT/ACT mathematics requirements for students after revealing they are re-teaching basic math to incoming students.

More than 500 faculty members across California campuses signed a letter requesting UC regents and leadership to reinstate the academic standards for the 2027 admissions cycle, revealing that eliminating standardized testing requirements has forced professors to help students with "middle school" math.

"We now observe preparation gaps so severe that instructors must re-teach middle school mathematics while simultaneously teaching the material students need for sciences, engineering, economics and other quantitatively demanding fields," the letter read.

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Though the faculty members acknowledged UC's history of helping "under-resourced students" succeed in STEM fields, they pointed out that the university system can only help so many students with finite resources, and the effort could actually backfire for underprepared students.

"Furthermore, the widening spread between underprepared and well-prepared students creates polarized courses, weakening the foundation available to many students and making it harder to teach at the level required for advanced STEM work. UC is increasingly unable to provide students with the education needed to become leaders in California’s scientific, technological and economic future," they wrote.

"We are already seeing the warning signs: longer pathways through prerequisite material, reduced readiness for advanced coursework, and growing pressure to dilute quantitative rigor," the professors continued. "Left unaddressed, these trends will lead to declining graduation rates, longer time to degree and reduced completion of STEM majors with consequences for California's highly skilled STEM workforce."

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In a comment to Fox News Digital, Ahmet Palazoglu, chair of the UC Academic Senate, said, "In light of concerns raised by UC faculty about student preparedness for undergraduate study, in March I called upon our systemwide faculty Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS) to address timely topics tied to students’ college readiness and UC’s admission process." 

The University of California agreed to no longer consider SAT or ACT scores when making admissions and scholarship decisions after a settlement for a 2019 lawsuit filed on behalf of low-income students of color and students with disabilities. 

The lawsuit argued that low-income students of color were at a disadvantage because standardized test questions often contain inherent bias that more privileged children are better equipped to answer, and wealthier students often take expensive prep courses to boost scores that others cannot afford. It also argued that students with disabilities could not easily travel to exams and class sites.

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The UC Board of Regents previously voted in 2020 to drop the SAT and ACT tests as admission requirements through 2024 and eliminate them for California residents after that.

A 2025 UC San Diego Senate-Administration Workgroup on Admissions report found that between 2020 and 2025, roughly one in eight entering students fell below middle school math levels.