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Higher Ed Dive
In a year without admissions tests, elite college applications balloon
Hallie Busta
Jan. 14, 2021
Dive Brief:
New York University has received more than 100,000 applications for
first-year students hoping to start college next fall, a 20% increase
from last year. It will enroll only about 6,500 of them.
The announcement mirrors news of big growth in early admission requests
at other elite institutions. Elimination of standardized testing
requirements could be causing some of the gains, experts say.
But recent data suggest the schools are largely outliers, and that
students from historically disadvantaged groups still lag their peers
in key application benchmarks.
Dive Insight:
The Common Application reported a 15% year-over-year increase in
first-year applications submitted through Jan. 5 at its member schools,
according to data shared with Higher Ed Dive. Around 900 schools use
the application, including NYU, making it a helpful proxy for
enrollment patterns nationwide.
The increase in unique first-year applications was smaller — at 8% —
suggesting the overall gains stemmed at least in part from students
applying to more colleges. But the rate varies widely by student group.
Earlier reports found first-generation and low-income students were
submitting the Common Application at lower rates than they were a year
ago. Though the latest data shows they've since caught up, their gains
lag those of their peers (see table).
Unique applications by student status
2020-21 applications % change from 2019-20
First-generation 253,441 3.6%
Non-first-generation 675,257 10.2%
Fee waiver recipient 388,501 2.1%
Non-fee waiver recipient 540,197 13.3%
All unique applicants 928,698 8.3%
Source: Common Application
This year's application season is unusual. In response to the pandemic,
hundreds of schools waived standardized testing requirements as part of
their applications.
"[H]aving one less hurdle in applying allows for more students to
consider a broader set of choices," Brett Schraeder, principal of
financial aid optimization at consultancy EAB, said in an email.
Schraeder credited the testing change as a likely contributor to NYU's
gains, citing its more than 20% year-over-year increases in
first-generation applicants and those from underrepresented minority
groups.
Research suggests private liberal arts colleges receive "a significant
increase" in applications after implementing test-optional policies,
Karina Salazar, a higher education professor at the University of
Arizona, said in an email. Salazar noted that change likely contributed
to NYU's gains.
Growth in early admissions decisions over the last decade could also be
a factor, Salazar said. Around 17% of NYU applications were early
decision submissions, according to a university release. Some schools
also pushed back their early application deadlines, leaving more time
for students to apply.
An NYU spokesperson did not respond to Higher Ed Dive's emailed request for comment Thursday.
Not all schools are seeing a glut of new applications, however. EAB's
Schraeder notes that many regional public and private colleges using
the firm are seeing declines. "Most students are served by these types
of regional institutions, so their health may be more instructive in
understanding the big picture for college enrollment," Schraeder wrote.
Applications fell 5% across the 23-institution California State
University system, with one campus seeing a 17% decrease, according to
a local media report.
Financial aid requests, another leading indicator of enrollment, were
down 11.4% year-over-year as of Jan. 1, according to the National
College Attainment Network's tracker.
It's a slight improvement over a nearly 17% lag recorded in late
November. Even still, students from high schools with large shares of
low-income and Black and Hispanic students were less likely to have
completed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
"This is an indication that the challenge we saw this past fall in new
student enrollment may continue into next fall," Schraeder said.
FAFSA completion by students' high school status as of Jan. 1
High school type Year-over-year change
Title I-eligible -14.7%
Title I-ineligible -8.7%
High minority -17%
Low minority -6.8%
Source: National College Attainment Network. NCAN defines "high
minority" as schools in which 40% or more of the students are Black or
Hispanic.
Colleges can help with financial aid advising and FAFSA completion at
K-12 schools they recruit from to help address this issue, said Bill
DeBaun, director of data and evaluation for NCAN.
Students preparing to graduate from high school this spring aren't the
only ones colleges should be considering, DeBaun added, citing
preliminary data showing a 22% decrease in high school graduates who
went immediately on to college this fall.
"While elite schools probably are encouraged to have an embarrassment
of riches in terms of applicants," he said, "there's a lot of work to
do to reconnect students from the class of 2020 with a postsecondary
pathway and to ensure that the vast majority of the class of 2021, who
will not be applying to elite institutions, get to the postsecondary
pathway that best serves their interests."
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