The article says it's top ranked schools but then gives a list of a lot of lesser known colleges, for profit mills like U. Phoenix, a whole bunch of theological

The article says it's top ranked schools but then gives a list of a lot of lesser known colleges, for profit mills like U. Phoenix, a whole bunch of theological schools, Yeshivas and Talmud institutes, trade colleges, and bottom tier state colleges (for example for new high school grads, CSU is test optional but UC is not). Yes there's also a handful of colleges that are known. Most the ones listed it's understandable they don't mandate the tests and rely on other criteria or are colleges that simply have very high acceptance rates. Also most of them, like all the theology and trade schools, have never mandated the tests so there's no real change there. For academically rigorous schools just because the test is optional doesn't mean you won't need a stellar application and recommendations in order to be accepted if you choose not to send in test results. Also doesn't mean you won't completely lose out on very helpful scholarships that have standardized test cut off points.