This month, more than 300,000 people received acceptance letters from at least one college in the state before completing their applications.
The students had unknowingly qualified for a direct admissions program led by Common App, the nation’s most used and widely accepted college application app. The program, which involves 70 schools in 28 states, reviews incomplete applications and awards admission to students who meet specific GPA and testing requirements set by each participating university. Live in a poor area or have parents who did not go to college.
The bulk admissions from participating universities comes as a result of declining undergraduate admission rates that have continued since the pandemic and the Supreme Court’s decision to repeal affirmative action, which has virtually eradicated racially conscious admissions practices. The move comes amid signs that the country may be reversing a decline that has continued in the months since the verdict.
Recent data from the National Student Clearinghouse shows that college enrollment is up across the board this fall, with Black, Hispanic, and Asian students accounting for the majority of the increase in undergraduate and graduate enrollment. Masu. New data from the Common App also shows that the number of registration applications for next fall will also be higher than before the pandemic.
“Our goal here is to make every student at Common App feel not only valued, but welcome,” Common App CEO Jenny Rickard told USA TODAY. āItās about encouraging them to explore the many opportunities that are in front of them.ā
Following the Supreme Court decision,What can prospective college students expect?
The growing popularity of direct admission programs
Direct admission programs are popular among educational institutions looking to increase enrollment, allowing them to avoid lengthy admissions processes that often require test scores, essays, and letters of recommendation. Popular with students. Jennifer Delaney, a higher education professor at the University of Illinois, said these hurdles can be alleviated through parent mentoring, tutoring and other expensive programs, but they disproportionately affect low-income students and those whose parents did not attend college. He said he was giving. .
The number of direct admission programs has exploded over the past decade. In 2015, Idaho became one of the first states to adopt this program, actively enrolling all public high school seniors into at least six in-state colleges each year.
Georgia introduced a similar initiative this year, sending letters to all public high school seniors letting them know which colleges in the state they would be accepted to if they decided to apply. Minnesota recently designated thousands of students to participate in a pilot direct admissions program. And Niche, a for-profit education technology company that claims to help students find and enroll the right schools, has expanded its program to 68 colleges.
Rickard said the direct admissions program’s proactive approach effectively counters the misconception that most universities have low acceptance rates, which can prevent prospective students from applying in the first place.
“That’s what the story is about, but it’s not true,” Rickard said. Of his more than 1,000 schools that use the common app each year, about 90% accept more than half of their applicants.
Delaney, who is co-author of several research papers on the effects of direct admissions, compared the admissions process to dating and said direct admissions reverses the typical roles of student and university.
āHistorically, it was students who went out and looked for schools,ā she says. “We now have a data system that is robust enough that schools can search for students and say, ‘Hey, we know you’re qualified. If you get here, there’s a place.’ We have entered an age where we can say, “If you want to come, I’m here for you.”
Legacy reception will be rolled back.Universities that have changed their policies are:
College costs remain the biggest hurdle for prospective students
An article Delaney co-authored in August and used data from the Common App found that students who receive an acceptance are more likely to submit a college application and apply to an institution where they are offered direct admission. It was shown that the sex was almost twice as large. They intend to ‘assert their status’ and enroll,ā the study states. These effects were much larger for minority, first-generation, and low-income students.
However, the study found no evidence that the number of students enrolled in schools that were accepted into the program increased. According to Delaney and Rickard, this is likely due to high fees, which are the biggest hurdle for many young people pursuing college.
According to a recent report from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce, between 1980 and 2020, the average price of tuition, fees, and housing costs for an undergraduate degree increased by 169%, far outpacing wages. exceeded.
And tuition continues to rise. Tuition at public four-year colleges rose 2.5% from the previous year to an average of $11,260 for the 2023-24 academic year, according to the College Board. Tuition and fees at private four-year institutions increased 4% to an average of $41,540.
Both Delaney and Rickard said the next version of the direct admission program could be combined with scholarships to address the burdensome costs of college.
“Active enrollment works, but it’s just the beginning,” Delaney said. “It’s not a silver bullet.”