Baylor is offering a bounty to those who retake the SAT

This has a foul odor. I can't exactly tell you why, but this gimmick Baylor University has instituted of enticing freshmen with a $300 credit at the campus bookstore if they retake their SAT and a $1,000 in merit scholarship aid if they raise their score by 50 points, just doesn't sit right with me.

For one thing, the SAT is supposed to measure incoming students. What it measures, depends on who you talk to, but that's not the point here. These students re-taking the tests have already been admitted.

Second, it comes across as cooking the books. U.S. News & World Report, which compiles one of the most recognized lists of academic institutions, uses SAT scores as a factor in compiling its ratings. Baylor has made no bones about the fact it wants to climb to the first tier of these college rankings (it's all part of something called "Baylor 2012"). Currently Baylor is ranked 76th in the U.S. News & World Report list. “This is a straightforward, cynical attempt to manipulate test score averages to boost Baylor’s rankings,” said Robert Schaeffer, the public education director for FairTest, a nonprofit group that has been critical of the use of standardized tests in college admissions.

Baylor's student newspaper, The Lariat, editorially criticized the administration's policy, but for all the wrong reasons. The paper's argument -- “The deal is unfair to the upperclassmen at Baylor. Every college student could use an extra $300 to pay for books or the chance to knock $1,000 off each year’s tuition, but only this year’s freshmen received that opportunity” -- comes across as sour grapes.

See, I always thought Baylor was supposed to be this upright, Baptist University whose religious leanings would forbid any activity that even hints at cheating. That's what I get for thinking.