Hot topics🔥 in college admissions
Here's what's on the minds of admissions counselors and families.
The following article appeared in the Feb. 12, 2024, edition of The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with smart and original local news for Charlotte. We offer free and paid subscription plans. More info here.
A disastrous student-aid form rollout. A new digital SAT. A rise in deferrals. Here are some of the big issues on the minds of Charlotte college counselors.
Applications are up in recent years at big Southern schools with large football programs, like the University of Tennessee. (Steve DiMatteo/Unsplash)
by Cristina Bolling
College admissions, like the weather and fashion styles, are ever-changing, often-fraught and require mind-bending levels of patience and savvy.
This year is no different. For example:
Schools are adjusting to a U.S. Supreme Court decision barring them from using race as a factor in admissions.
Students are for the first time using computers to take a shortened version of the SAT — which more schools are re-instituting as a requirement.
And a disastrous delay in the rollout of a new federal student aid program form is causing students to have to mull their choices without the knowledge of how much they’ll have to pay.
We asked three local college counselors — Anna Davis of College Guidance LLC, Elizabeth West of EWC Consulting and Kim Stodghill of Stodghill College Consulting — to share some insights on some of the biggest issues they’re seeing in college admissions this year.
1. Massive FAFSA headaches causing ‘extra stress’
This year, the U.S. Department of Education released a new form for the FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid, which millions of students rely on to afford college.
But the rollout has been a disaster.
First, there were delays in opening the form to students to fill out. (Typically, students have access to the upcoming year’s form on Oct. 1; last year, the form soft-launched on Dec. 30, and it’s been available only for limited periods of time as the education department had to resolve issues.)
That’s resulted in lengthy delays getting information to schools, which in turn will be delayed in telling students how much financial aid they can receive.
The ultimate victims are the students, who are left awaiting one of the most critical criteria in making a college decision: the price tag.
Anna Davis says a many questions still need answers:
Will colleges push back their typical enrollment deadline (National College Decision Day) of May 1? A few, like Ohio State, already have, and it seems like others will have to do the same. This penalizes lower- and middle-income families who need this important piece of information before enrolling. If families are unable to commit to a college until later, will the student miss out on orientation and housing registration? Have less time to find a roommate? This is causing extra stress in an already stressful process.
Elizabeth West says she’s seeing the stress firsthand and worries it’ll push some students away:
One of my students is completely independent from her parents and needs to know the amount of her financial aid package to be able to estimate if she can even attend college, let alone figure out how she will live next year. Low-income students nationwide will be facing this issue, and my fear is that the deadlines will keep shifting, which will cause more hardship, and perhaps force these students not to persist.
Kim Stodghill says she’s seeing some of the efforts colleges are making:
To alleviate part of the anxiety, some colleges are working to try to provide estimated award packages and moving back their deposit deadline in order to give families a bit more time to review award offers before making a commitment to enroll. Colleges, however, are struggling to manage yield in these circumstances; nothing about this situation is ideal.
2. The new digital SAT: shorter test, quicker results, no need to remember calculator
The SAT exam, which has traditionally been taken with paper and pencil, is going digital this year, which means students will use a tablet or laptop, and the test will slim down from three hours to two hours. College counselors say the change is welcome for this generation of students who are plenty comfortable with taking tests on computers.
Some colleges are once again requiring students to submit SAT or ACT scores (rules that were dropped during Covid), and there are rumblings that more will follow suit, including the UNC system. College admissions counselors (and many high schoolers) are watching this closely.
Kim Stodghill says the switch to the digital SAT is a positive one for students:
Based on the feedback from the PSAT from the fall, the digital SAT will likely be popular with most students. The shorter test is certainly appealing, and this generation is quite comfortable with digital format exams. And they rave about the built-in calculator feature — no more having to remember their own device and those extra batteries.
Anna Davis says to expect a smooth rollout (unlike the FAFSA):
Because the College Board has been administering the digital test at international test centers for several months, I believe the rollout will be smooth. What came as a surprise to me is how many colleges are planning to superscore between the paper and digital tests. (That is when colleges take the students’ best scores for the math and reading components and combine them for an overall score.) I did not predict that decision, but that is especially good news for the class of 2025, who will likely take both paper and digital formats.
Elizabeth West says one benefit is faster scoring:
I have high hopes for the Digital SAT, as it is a shorter, revised test. For example, the reading passages are shorter. I think that’s a good thing because our students have different attention spans than we did at their age. … There are more advantages to the Digital SAT such as students getting their scores faster. This is significant because students will be able to take the SAT closer to the application deadlines. Historically, these students would have to wait weeks to get their scores back. Now, it will take a matter of days.
3. A surge in applications is leading to more deferred admissions decisions
In recent years, more college admissions offices have spread out their workloads by inviting students to apply early, in the fall, and in return receive an early response, typically in January or even before.
But a rise in applications at many schools means they’re telling more students who applied early that they need to wait to find out whether they’re in or out. (This article on LinkedIn by college admissions expert Jeff Selingo explains the rise in applications and what it means.)
Elizabeth West said college admissions officers have told her they were so overloaded with applicants that they admitted the top tier and need more time to review the rest:
We saw a record number of deferred decisions from colleges in this admissions cycle. Most were deferring from early action to regular decision timelines. I got in touch with a number of our admissions colleagues, and they talked about the sheer volume of applications they received. One college received 60,000 applications for 6,000 seats! In these cases, most colleges choose their top applicants and then defer students to take more time to read their applications.
(West said she advises students to read the deferral message on the college’s application portal closely, to see if they’re advised to take more action — like sending updated transcripts or test scores, or even getting additional letters of recommendation to boost their chances.)
Anna Davis explains how it’s playing out at Clemson and the University of Virginia:
More applications also means more deferrals. For the high school class of 2023 students who applied to Clemson, 60% were deferred. More applications can also mean it takes a college longer to release decisions. Here's a quote from the UVa admission blog: “The last time we were able to release in January, we had 25,000 early action applications. We have over 36,000 this season. Of course, we’ve added staff over the years, but reviewing the number of applications we’re getting these days takes time.”
4. Big Southern schools are hot — and getting harder to get into
The number of students applying to colleges rose nationwide in the 2024-25 academic year, but Southern schools experienced particularly big jumps. The states whose schools had some of the biggest surges in applications included South Carolina (+116%) and Alabama (+79%), which were both in the top five, according to a Common App Research Brief released in November.
Anna Davis said that could be chalked up to several reasons:
It seems like students from all over the country want to come to Southern, public universities. Schools like Auburn, the University of Georgia, the University of Tennessee, the University of South Carolina and Clemson have seen tremendous growth in their applicant pools the last few years.
For the high school class of 2023, UGa was up 8% in early action applications. This year, the increase was only 3.5%, but that is 11.5% over two years. It’s hard to know if it’s related to fewer Covid restrictions, merit scholarships, weather, football success, politics or other factors, but the result is that it’s harder than ever to get into some of these schools.
Cristina Bolling is managing editor of The Ledger: cristina@cltledger.com
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