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NPR Ed
Graduation, Financial Aid, Admissions — For This Year's College-Bound, The Future Is In Turmoil
By Elissa Nadworny
Mar 22, 2020
This spring was supposed to be an exciting time for Xander Christou.
He's a senior in high school in Austin, Texas, and was looking forward
to all the fun: prom, senior skip day and of course, graduation.
But all that's now out the window. "There's a sense that it's
incomplete," says Christou. The school district has closed until April
3rd and Christou says he has this feeling that a unique chapter in his
life — senior year — is slipping away. "They're just parts that we may
never get to experience." One big disruption: any attempt at making
plans for next year. "We're in the midst of college decisions," he
says, and the coronavirus has "really thrown a wrench into a number of
things."
Christou spent most of last fall like many high school seniors:
researching and applying to schools. He planned to spend the spring
visiting some of the campuses he was accepted to. "Online, the colleges
are just names and logos and programs," he says, "nothing will compare
to actually being on campus and speaking face-to-face with current
students."
But with so many colleges shutting down, all of those visits have been
cancelled — including one "candidate weekend" on NYU's Abu Dhabi campus
that was all-expense paid. "I was very excited for that," he says, "all
I had to do was pack and go to the airport." He would have gotten back
home last week. The return flight, without him on it, got cancelled too.
Of course it's more than just the visits — he's waiting on his
financial aid offers, too. Money, and how his family is going to pay
for college, has become even more important.
The admissions calendar, upended.
College admissions officials around the country are feeling much of the
same sense of turmoil as students like Christou. "There's never a good
time for a pandemic, but from an admission standpoint, there really
couldn't be a worse time," explains Jon Boeckenstedt, who oversees
admissions and financial aid at Oregon State University.
For many schools, March and April are when they send out the bulk of
acceptances or denials. Financial aid packages are sent out, too —
setting up the options for how to pay. Traditionally, May 1 is
"decision day," the deadline for students to submit a deposit to hold
their spot at a school for the following fall semester. But there's a
growing movement this year to shift the deadline back a month, to June
1, to give students and families more time.
"Every parent and student is going through a difficult time just
managing to deal with the uncertainty," says Boeckenstedt. "It's really
unfair to say, well, we have our deadlines, and come hell or high
water, you had better decide by May first."
Oregon State, where Boeckenstedt works, made this change and, as of
Wednesday, about 200 other schools had committed to the new deadline,
according to ACCEPT, a non-profit that is tracking the change.
"I can't fathom any family in six weeks from now saying, 'I know where
my student is going to go to college and I know I can afford it,' "
explains Marie Bigham, who runs ACCEPT and advocates for social and
racial justice in the admissions process. "There are too many unknowns
and storms up in the air. Asking someone to make a really expensive
decision in the midst of this is really unfair. It just feels wrong."
Other disruptions complicate admissions
As high schools move to online classes — some for the remainder of the
school year — and in some places, letter grades transition to a simple
pass or fail, many students are worried about the impact that will have
on their high school transcripts. In some places, even getting a final
transcript and sending it off to colleges may be difficult, with
buildings closed down and office staff working remotely. Guidance
counselors are also worried that it may even be hard to confirm that
students have actually graduated — since many states rely on
end-of-year grades and testing to confirm that status.
Admissions tests have also been jumbled: Advanced Placement (AP) tests
will be given online, without multiple choice questions. The ACT has
rescheduled the April 4 test to be given in June because of COVID-19,
and the College Board has cancelled the SAT test scheduled for May. For
now, the SAT scheduled for June is still on the books.
Because of this, a number of schools, including Oregon State and Case
Western Reserve University in Cleveland, have announced they will be
test-optional for the class of 2021. Experts wonder whether this might
be the beginning of many more schools going test-optional.
Case Western had been weighing test-optional policies, thinking that
maybe in a year or so they'd make a decision. "Up until a week ago, I
would not have predicted where we would ultimately come out on this,"
says Rick Bischoff, who oversees enrollment there. "But understanding
how much turmoil this is injecting into the process, it's just so
clearly, in our view, the right thing to do."
Colleges are also bracing for an influx of adjustments to financial aid
packages. For many families, their financial situations are changing.
Estimates predict that millions of Americans are filing for
unemployment this week. And the amount families thought they'd be able
to pay come fall might be different now. "This is not unusual for
financial aid offices," explains Bischoff, but, "the volume will be
unusual."
Virtual tours and video chats
In addition to going test-optional, colleges are bulking up their
virtual offerings in lieu of cancelled in-person events. Bischoff
acknowledges that, for many students, a personal visit to campus can
help in the decision process. Applicants can sit in on a lecture, or
meet with current students to get a good feel for how a particular
school might "fit." But with these spring events cancelled, schools are
moving online — with virtual tours, video chats with professors and
online classes.
"Admissions offices are working hard to make sure [that] even if
students can't visit, they can still get a sense of a place," explains
Bigham, who's been on the phone with admissions officers across the
country.
She notes that campus visits have long been a source of highlighting
inequity, as wealthy students are often able to take more advantage of
these offerings than students who are unable to travel due to finances.
Amid COVID-19 social distancing, virtual visits may be "flattening that
privilege a little bit."
But, she adds, "that does ignore the real inequity of broadband
technology; that it is difficult to find in some communities, and that
families can't afford it." Innovations in digital ways to see the
campus are exciting — unless you rely on your school or public library
to give you access. Those students may still be shut out.
Shut out in another way, too: With high schools closed, it may be
harder to stop by a counselor's office or get advice from a teacher
regarding college. Even though many colleges are shutting their
campuses, admissions and financial aid staff are still working and urge
students to ask questions by phone, email or on recently-deployed chat
tools on the college's website.
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