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Cabrini joins the ranks of SAT-optional colleges

Cabrini College will join a growing number of schools that have made standardized test scores optional for admission, and at the same time will freeze the cost of going there, officials announced Thursday.

Cabrini College will join a growing number of schools that have made standardized test scores optional for admission, and at the same time will freeze the cost of going there, officials announced Thursday.

Tuition for full-time undergraduate students will remain at $28,932 for 2015-16 and fees at $910, maintaining a promise the college had made to keep tuition and fees under $30,000 until May of this year.

Total costs, including room and board, will be $41,868 at the Catholic college in Radnor, which enrolls 1,360 undergraduate students and about 1,000 graduate students.

It's not the first time Cabrini has held costs. The college cut its tuition by 12.5 percent for the 2012-13 school year. It then froze tuition for 2013-14, as well as most room and board rates.

Despite the efforts, undergraduate enrollment has dipped in four years from 1,415 to 1,360.

"By freezing tuition and adopting a test-optional policy, the college is doing what it can to ensure that a Cabrini education remains affordable and accessible to motivated students of all backgrounds," president Donald B. Taylor said in a statement.

Beginning with students who apply for the fall, SAT and ACT scores will be an optional part of the application - an effort to broaden access to talented students who don't test well. Temple University and Bryn Mawr College both went test-score-optional this year.

Cabrini's decision comes as the school continues to try to boost enrollment to 1,500. But Robert Reese, vice president for enrollment management, said the college's change in test-score requirements and cost freeze are driven by the fact that 60 percent of its students are the first in their families to go to college.

"Our decision is really more about doing the right thing for the kinds of students we serve," he said.

He said the college has had success in enrolling increasing numbers of freshmen, including a 29 percent jump last fall. It also raised its student retention rate from 71 percent in 2012-13 to 77 percent last year, he said.