Higher Numbers of College Applications But Only At Select, Large Schools

By: Helene Wingens

Last week we reported that applications to selective schools were soaring as a result of many of those schools going standardized test-optional. Harvard, for instance, saw a 42% increase in applications, as did many other selective schools. 

Larger and more select colleges and universities are seeing more applications this year. (Twenty20 @eric_urquhart)

Larger and more selective schools see an increase in applicants

Newly released information from the Common App (the application through which most students apply to college) shows that the increase in applications is not universal. In fact, the gains in applications are primarily among larger and more selective schools.

While smaller and less competitive colleges are actually seeing a decline in applications. 

Smaller and less selective schools see downturn in applications

Applications to SUNY (State University of NY) schools fell by twenty percent which is a material drop. Applications to schools with over twenty-thousand students increased by 16 percent, while applications to schools with under a thousand students decreased by 4 percent. Schools with an admissions rate of under 50 percent generally saw larger increases in applications relative to less selective schools.

Perhaps even more concerning, the number of first-generation students applying to colleges has dropped. Although the current admissions cycle is far from over, that trend is clear and alarming.

Applications from first-generation and fee-waiver applicants plummet

According to Inside Higher Education, despite an overall increase of 10 percent in college applications, Jenny Rickard President and CEO of the Common App reports that, “the numbers of first-generation applicants and fee-waiver recipients each declined (by three and two percentage points, respectively)…”

Rickard added that the Common App continues,

…to be very concerned about the decline among fee waiver and first-generation applicants. Persistent trends of decline among these key subgroups across the 2020-21 cycle signal a need for additional support in the months leading up to enrollment in fall 2021…” 

In other data, applications from international students went way up, except for applications from China which were down eighteen percent. And the average student is applying to more colleges than ever before, hedging their bets on any one college in particular. All this can be attributed to the plethora of uncertainties involved in every facet of the application process. 

One might have expected that applications to state schools would rise with the current economic uncertainty but that has not been the case. Lower-income applicants and first-generation applicants often come from communities most impacted by Coronavirus. And a drop in first generation and low income students is a problem for all of us.

More to Read:

The Price You Pay for College, 21 Important Questions to Ask

Source: https://grownandflown.com/select-colleges-have-more-applications-fewer-low-income-students-apply/

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