Vol. 24 No. 8 April 2010

New Ways of Applying and Getting In

AS IF TRADITIONAL APPLICATIONS to college hadn’t become complicated enough, now new technologies are opening up whole new arenas for applying to college… and getting in.

Facing Up to Facebook. The new social media platforms are now seriously impacting college admissions. Some 62 percent of admissions officers at the 170 colleges surveyed by Cappex.com, a college and scholarship search website, said they plan to dedicate more admissions resources to social media. “It’s about accessibility and authenticity,” one private college admissions officer responded. “Students are able to learn more about the college while also connecting with current students in a genuine and personal way.” Facebook.com is the social media of choice among those surveyed.

Virtual Recruiting of Athletes. Then with athletic budgets slashed and less money allocated to travel, some high school athletes are turning to online services such as www.beRecruited.com for exposure. The new social media tool seems to be breaking down some barriers between athletes and coaches, particularly in lower profile sports and at smaller colleges and universities. Athletes register free to create a marketing profile of their skills. They can also research athletic scholarships in 18 different sports, and find out about academic standards. The website beRecuited.com reports that over the past two years, its use has increased by 500,000.

Brave YouTube World. Tufts U. made the news this spring when some of the student videos it received were posted on YouTube.com. But Tufts is not alone in letting students display their talents on videos. George Mason U. and St. Mary’s C. of Maryland now also accept videos as part of applications.

According to the March 23 issue of U.S. News & World Report, Tufts logged in more than 700 student videos among 15,500 applicants. The Common Application began accepting videos from art students two years ago. The Universal College Application, used by 86 colleges, lets students submit optional multimedia applications.

These schools may only be in the vanguard of a more personalized admissions revolution that allows admissions officers to listen and watch students state their case for admission. Beyond the stunts, future admissions officers may opt for a video statement from students instead of an interview. Like political ads, students may tout their achievements and explain away their indiscretions.

But, not so fast. Some counselors are arguing this puts enormous extra pressure on students to create the videos in addition to completing their application forms and essays. Guidance counselors have asked, “What about those without the media resources to make a slick presentation?” Then others wonder if there aren’t privacy concerns? As fast as the technological change is sweeping us, only next year’s applications will tell.

Alternative Apps. Still other colleges and universities are exploring additional new methods to attract more applications. For example, some are opting for what they call “Fast Apps,” “VIP-apps” or “Advantage” applications that make students feel special. Marquette U., the U. of Minnesota and some smaller institutions have waived application fees, sent out pre-filled application forms and other “Express Applications.”

Cloudy Days Good for Apps. No kidding. According to a study in the current Economic Journal, students are more likely to apply to a college if they visit it on a cloudy day. Uri Simonsohn, Wharton School of Business, compared the enrollment decisions of 1,284 students and the weather on visitation day. He found that students were more likely to apply on a cloudy day. (Not only that, admissions officers were more likely to admit a student on a cloudy day.) His theory is that people can see themselves, or others, more likely to study when the sun is behind the clouds….

25 Colleges Opt for the Common Application. The Common Application just announced the addition of 25 new members, bringing to 414 colleges and universities that use the Common Application in their admissions process. That number includes 47 public institutions. For the first time, one international university is included in the list. New members using the Common Application, starting this year, are:

Alaska Pacific U., Albany C. of Pharmacy & Health Services (NY), Columbia U. (NY), Concordia U. (OR), DePaul U. (IL), Fontbonne U. (MO), Husson U. (ME), Jacobs U. Bremen (Germany), Johnson State C. (VT), Maritime C. (SUNY), Mount Saint Mary C. (NY), Morrisville State C. (SUNY), Otterbein C. (OH), School of the Art Institute of Chicago, St. John’s C. (MD/NM), Stephens C. (MO), SUNY Potsdam, U. of Maryland, Baltimore County, U. of Connecticut, U. of Michigan, U. of North Carolina Asheville, Western New England C. (MA), Westmont C. (CA), Xavier U. of Louisiana and Yeshiva U. (NY).

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NEW TRENDS IN ACCEPTING STUDENTS
“Likely”Admissions. For years, some colleges and universities have tried to reassure athletes they have recruited by sending out “likely” acceptance letters. The U. of Pennsylvania is one school that is now sending “likely” letters to top regular admissions students. In fact, this year it sent out 200 “likely letters” before April 1, according to the Daily Pennsylvanian. Last year, Penn sent out 120 of the “likely letters.” The increase this year is targeting students in areas of natural sciences, which are traditionally “under-enrolled.”

NYU also sent out “likely” emails saying, “While your decision packet may not be mailed for another two weeks, it might be a good idea for you to start checking travel plans to visit campus.” Randall Deike, vice president of enrollment management, told Washington Square News and NYUNews.com, “We are not necessarily indicating to students that they have been admitted for sure, but we’re just trying to remind folks that they should be planning if they are interested in attending….”

“Likely” letters are sent in hopes of snaring certain highly-qualified students before they receive acceptance letters from other schools. Students are warned that the offers are dependent upon keeping up their senior grades and keeping out of trouble.

California Waiting. The U. of California created a wait list this year for the first time in history. “The university currently enrolls more than 15,000 students for whom it receives no state funding,” said Susan Wilbur, director of admissions, UC. “New enrollment must be carefully managed to enable campuses to reach their enrollment targets with great precision….”

Each campus will decide if it needs a wait list. UCLA has opted out. Those on a wait list will need to indicate their interest and will be notified June 1.

California State U. is also using wait lists to regulate enrollment. “These wait lists exist because the California State U. needs to lower student enrollment due to the drastic reduction in state budget support,” a spokesman for the Chancellor told The State Hornet.

Campus Visits Redeux. Increasing numbers of colleges this spring are inviting accepted students back to revisit their campuses. For example, some 3,000 people, including 1,050 students accepted for the C. of Charleston’s class of 2014, visited the campus during Accepted Student Weekend at the end of March. Of the accepted students, 276 were interested in the School of Sciences and Mathematics, 232 the School of Humanities, 170 the School of Business, 112 the School of Education, Health and Human Performance, 54 the School of Arts and 15 the School of Languages, Cultures, and World Affairs.

More Latinos Going Away to College. That’s according to a recent article in the Los Angeles Times. Citing statistics from UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute, the article noted that since 1975 “the share of Latino freshmen at four-year colleges who choose schools more than 50 miles from home has risen to nearly 59 percent from about 46 percent.” Experts suggest it is the result of changing cultural traditions which led students to stay close to home, a rising middle class and the stepped up recruitment of Latinos by some colleges.

Nursing Education Slows. Limited hospital and clinical spots are slowing the ability of nursing programs to accommodate the increasingly high demand for nursing degrees. According to the National League for Nursing, about 35 percent of pre-licensure programs reported that they received more qualified applications than they could accept. That meant that 119,000 qualified students or 39 percent were denied entry. Additionally, in 2008, the last year studied, enrollments were “flat,” even though the number of graduates increased over the previous year by 12 percent. NLN speculates that the slow growth is a result of the recession.

Professional School Grads Worried. The number of students applying to two-thirds of the nation’s MBA programs rose in the 2009 recession. According to the Graduate Management Admission Council, they rose by 10 to 20 percent every year over the past decade. Law school applications were up by 3 percent for fall 2010.

Student debt for law students soared as well. Students are graduating from private law schools owing an average of $80,000. Graduates of public law schools are carrying a $54,000 debt.

So securing a job is a necessity. But nearly 80 percent of companies recruiting MBA’s scaled back on campus recruiting. And half did not recruit any graduates, according to the GMAC. It’s a similar story for recent law school graduates. According to the National Association for Law Placement, the situation is so bad that 42 law schools are looking for ways to hire their own graduates to weather the storm.

Community College Engagement. About two-thirds of students at community colleges attend part-time, according to the 2009 Community College Survey of Student Engagement. And they are predominantly taught by part-time teachers, who account for 67 percent of community college faculty. The study concluded that part-time students are less engaged than full-time students, and are more likely to dropout.

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SPRING ADMISSIONS WATCH
New Jersey Scores Rise. It’s taking a higher SAT score to get into some New Jersey state colleges, according to the pressofAtlanticCity.com. Only 90 of the state’s 384 public high schools had average scores of 1070, a level that Atlantic Cape C.C. says indicates a student is ready for college work. But the average math and verbal score at Richard Stockton C. of New Jersey is 1130. It received 4,600 applications for 900 freshman positions. At Rowan U. it is 1150. The average at MATES (Marine Academy of Technology and Environmental Science) is 1232.

New York Competition. The State University of New York (SUNY), where enrollment is up by 25 percent over the past decade, attracted more applications for the fall. SUNY Brockport saw applications increase by about 11 percent to 8,000. Transfer applications were up by 25 percent. Because of state budget cuts, SUNY Geneseo, where the average SAT math and reading scores for last year rose to 1340, is reducing the number of its new students by 75 this fall.

Wisconsin Down. Applications to Wisconsin’s public universities dropped by 2 percent this year, to just over 82,000. They fell even further at the state’s four-year public institutions. But they jumped by 9 percent at technical colleges and UW two-year institutions. UW-Green Bay posted the largest drop, down by 11 percent. Local experts think students who used to apply to more than six schools may be cutting back to save on filing fees.

Haverford’s Early Record. Haverford C. in Pennsylvania admitted about 40 percent of its 2014 class, or 127 students, through its Early Decision program. Another nine were admitted through the QuestBridge program which targets high-achieving, low-income students. This year, Haverford hopes to enroll between 315 and 325 students.

St. Joe’s “Turn Away.” Saint Joseph U. attracted about 6,900 applications for 1,200 freshman slots. This year’s acceptance rate will be slightly less than last year’s 81 percent. Responding to some faculty complaints that St. Joe’s acceptance rate is too high, Maureen Mathis, executive director of admissions, told the student paper The Hawk, there is something perverse in higher education’s pride “in how many people it turns away.”

Oxford Bound. Applications are up 12 percent this year, to 17,000 students, for a place at the august Oxford U. in England. However, the odds of these students being accepted is better, 1 in 5, than most U.S. Ivy League schools, where the admit rate has edged under 10 percent. Last autumn, about 54 percent of new students hailed from state-supported schools while over 46 came from private schools.

The British government has put pressure on Oxford to admit more state school students after a high profile controversy over the rejection of a brilliantly-qualified young woman. But Oxford’s chancellor, Lord Patten, told The Guardian, that the university should resist “social engineering.”

More in Virginia. George Mason U. in Virginia attracted 20 percent more applications this year, for a total of some 20,000. Applications were spurred by recent publicity, including making U.S. News & World Report’s “A School to Watch” list. Meanwhile, Northern Virginia Community C. increased its enrollment by 12 percent, or about 3,000 students, during the spring semester.

And UC Says It Needs More Minority Students. In reacting to recent racial incidents on two campuses, the Regents at the University of California have called for expanding admissions requirements to increase the number of minority students. Only 3 percent of UC undergrads are African American and 16 percent Latino.

People Are Talking About… The March 24 Wall Street Journal article “Before They Were Titans, Moguls and Newsmakers, These People Were…Rejected.” Warren Buffet, Nobel Prize medicine winner Harold Varmus, Today Show’s Meredith Vieira and Tom Brokaw were all rejected from Harvard.

Direct Loan Program Passes
IT WASN’T JUST a dramatic health care reform debate that took place on the floor of the House of Representatives last month. Attached to the “reconciliation” bill was a new federal Direct Lending Program. It passed on March 25 and will go into effect this summer. The new program will eliminate the federally-guaranteed student loan program created in 1964 that issued student loans through banks and other institutions. Now government financed loans will be issued directly to students by the financial aid offices of colleges and universities.

Opponents call this “a new entitlement program.” Supporters say the program, which cuts out subsidies to the bank middlemen, will save taxpayers $61 billion over 10 years. About $36 billion of that has been pumped back into the Pell program to expand the number of recipients.

But individual students will not see much of a change in the amount of Pell money they receive. This year, the maximum Pell grant will be set at $5,350. In 2011, the maximum Pell grant will rise to $5,500. The maximum will increase to $5,900 in 2019-20, an increase The New York Times called “miniscule, compared with the steep, inexorable rise in tuition for public and private colleges alike.”

The maximum Pell grant currently covers about one third of a student’s expenses at a public university. But in the 1970s, when the program began, the maximum Pell grant paid for about 75 percent of costs. Students typically graduate now with a debt of more than $20,000.

Another benefit for future students will begin in 2014. Then, students will be required to direct no more than 10 percent of their income to loan repayment, versus the current 15 percent. And if they are diligent in repayment for 20 years, the loan will be forgiven, versus the current 25 years.

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COUNSELOR'S CORNER
Where Tuition is Up and Financial Aid Matters
This spring, as talk about student loans and Pell grants filled the political discourse, colleges and students grappled with the logistics of financing college amidst the current economic climate. Here is a roundup from different sectors of the country.

TUITION TABS
Arizona Rises. This fall, Arizona’s three state universities will increase their tuition by 18.8 percent, or $1,288, to $8,128 for new students. Current Arizona State students will experience increases between 11.9 and 12.7 percent. Undergraduates at the U. of Arizona will pay 20.4 percent more.

California Protests. Meanwhile, a 32 percent fee increase sent California students into the streets protesting this year. The next school year will see fees at U. of California reach $11,000. At California State U. they will be $4,827. The new “high tuition, high aid” model is a shift for the state that once was tuition free. About one-third of the recent fee increase will go to bolstering student aid packages, according to The Mercury News. Students from families earning more than $70,000 will bear the burden of increases. The state’s contribution has steadily fallen. In 1984, 11 percent of the state’s general fund went to higher education. This year, it is about 5.7 percent.

Denver Climbs. Tuition at the U. of Denver will go up by 3 percent this fall. Room and board will rise as well. Total cost: $46,317. Financial aid will increase by $9 million to $90 million. Last year, 84 percent of undergraduates received aid, according to the Denver Post.

Harvard Joins the $50 K Club. The national inflation rate is just 2.1 percent. Yet tuition, room and board is going up by 3.8 percent at Harvard to $50,724. But financial aid will increase by 9 percent. That means the average cost of attending Harvard will remain constant at $11,500. (Meanwhile, Yale’s 2010-11 tuition, room and board will go up by 4.8 percent to $49,800, according to the Yale Daily News.).

Hope’s Up. Even tiny Hope C. in Michigan will raise its room, board and tuition by 3.25 percent this fall, or $620 per student, to $34,000 a year. Most of the increase will cover additions to financial aid packages. Enrollment will remain steady at 3,200.

Ivy Prices/Real Price. A number of Ivy League schools recently boosted their tuition, room and board to near or above $50,000. In fact, according to the College Board, the average sticker price of all private colleges has soared by about one third over the past half decade to $35,640. But the net price, after financial aid, is $21,200, about 45 percent of the posted price, and has gone up only 7 percent over the past decade..

MIT’s Increase. Tuition and fees at MIT will rise 3.8 percent next fall, but its financial aid budget will increase by 6.7 percent. This is the 11th year in a row in which financial aid increases have outpaced tuition increases. The tuition increases come as MIT works to meet its $120 million, two-year operational budget reductions. Currently, 64 percent of MIT students receive need-based aid. And 35 percent receive enough aid so they pay no tuition. MIT reaffirmed that it will remain need-blind on admission decisions. But students will be expected to increase their contributions from summer jobs from $550 to $1,050.

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FINANCIAL AID MATTERS
Hamilton’s Need-Blind Policy. Hamilton College, the small liberal arts school in upstate New York, announced a new need-blind admissions policy. While some colleges are looking at who can afford tuition in order not to deeply deplete resources, Hamilton has gone the other direction. “It might be a little risky right now,” Monica Inzer, dean of admission and financial aid, told The New York Times. “It’s not always easy to do the right thing.” The decision is the result of initial generosity of six of the college’s trustees, who each pledged $500,000 to cover additional expenses. Hamilton’s room, board and tuition totals $50,000. The average aid package is about $32,500.

Illinois Grant Rush. Applications for state aid in Illinois jumped 21 percent in January and February to more than 180,000 students. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, 81,000 were actually eligible for the Illinois Monetary Award Program, up by 34 percent. Last year, applications were cut off at the earliest point in the program’s history, May 15. That meant 120,000 students who were eligible for grants up to $2,500 went unfunded. Because of budget problems, the Illinois legislature left the program unfunded for the second semester, until public pressure forced it to relent. This year, the cutoff is likely to come sooner, and Illinois is facing an even greater budget shortfall.

Lake Forest Bonanza. You’ve probably already heard about the $7 million bequeathed to Lake Forest C. in Illinois by a 100-year-old “secret millionaire.” But you should know that the money is going to support student internships and study-abroad programs for the 1,300 students whose campus is perched above Lake Michigan.

AND SCHOLARSHIP SCOOPS
Home Depot Awards.
Students who will study at building and construction trade schools will be eligible for 500 $1,000 scholarships from Home Depot. Another $1,000 will go to the home school of each scholarship winner. Applications accepted through April 30. Go to www.homedepot.com/tradescholarship.

Student Opportunity Scholarship. The Center for Student Opportunity will award $1,000 four-year renewable scholarships to first-generation college-bound students enrolling at a CSO partner college. Deadline: June 1. See http://www.csopportunity.org.

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However, reading progress from 2007-2009 for fourth graders showed no improvement. About 67 percent were at the Basic level, 33 percent at or above Proficient and 8 percent were Advanced. You can find all the data at http://nationsreportcard.gov.

New National Standards. Kentucky was the first to adopt a new set of more rigorous K-12, college/career readiness standards. And in March, the Governors of all the states (except Texas and Alaska) agreed to submit the common English and math standards to their legislatures for approval. The project is co-sponsored by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers. The goals, simplified and plainly written, will then be submitted to the various state legislatures.

Ethnic Group SATS. For those who keep track, the average SAT score by ethnic group now stands at: 1623 (of a possible 2400) for Asian American students; 1581 for white students; 1364 for Hispanic students and 1276 for African American students.

New Report Finds “Excellence Gap.” There is a growing gap among “high ability” students of different socioeconomic, racial and ethnic backgrounds, the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy at Indiana U. announced last month. The study, “Mind the (Other) Gap!: The Growing Excellence Gap in K-12 Education,” looked at high-performing students’ test results and found an increasing “excellence gap,” defined as “the difference in the proportion of students in different demographic groups who score at the advanced level on student achievement tests.”

COLLEGE BOUND's Publisher/Editor: R. Craig Sautter, DePaul University; Chief Operating Officer: Sally Reed; Assistant Editor: Emma Schwartz; Illustration: Louis Coronel; Board of Advisors: Lisa Burnham, Edina High School, Minnesota; Claire D. Friedlander, Bedford (N.Y.) Central School District; Howard Greene and Matthew Greene, authors, The Greenes' Guides to Educational Planning Series; Frank C. Leana, Ph.D., educational counselor; M. Fredric Volkmann, Washington University in St. Louis; Mary Ann Willis, Bayside Academy (Daphne, Ala.).

In This Issue

Feature Articles
New Ways of Applying and Getting In

Spring Admissions Watch

Direct Loan Program Passes

THE COUNSELOR'S
CORNER
Where Tuition is Up and Financial Aid Matters

News You Can Use
Eighth Grade Reading Gains

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