BOSTON (AP) — More than 80 colleges are creating a website where students will be able to apply to dozens of them and get help along the way. Some of the top names in higher education are joining the effort under a new group called the Coalition for Access, Affordability and Success, whose goal is to make the application process easier, especially for minority and low-income students. The website gives students one place to send their applications, but it also gives them tools to get started years in advance. On the site, students will be able to request advice from college admissions offices, and they can create …
BOSTON (AP) — More than 80 colleges are creating a website where students will be able to apply to dozens of them and get help along the way.
Some of the top names in higher education are joining the effort under a new group called the Coalition for Access, Affordability and Success, whose goal is to make the application process easier, especially for minority and low-income students.
The website gives students one place to send their applications, but it also gives them tools to get started years in advance. On the site, students will be able to request advice from college admissions offices, and they can create digital portfolios with the help of their teachers and counselors.
Members of the coalition include private universities such as Harvard and Stanford and public counterparts such as the University of Virginia and Ohio State University.
The colleges came together to fix a problem that researchers have noted for years: Complex admissions processes deter students from applying, and those who come from low-income families can’t afford the counselors and classes within reach of their wealthier peers.
High schools, for example, can already buy software to help counselors track their students through the application process, but many can’t afford it.
“This is a free tool that will be open to counselors in those types of schools and even in community-based organizations,” said Zina Evans, vice president for enrollment management at the University of Florida, a member of the coalition.
The website is one more in a series of attempts to improve application rates nationwide. More than 600 colleges now accept the standardized Common Application, and many offer waivers for application fees. High schools routinely host application events hoping to give all students a shot at college.
Last year, the White House called on schools to step up their efforts to get students into college and on track to degrees. The schools in the coalition have individually tried many different approaches to address the challenges, said Jeremiah Quinlan, dean of undergraduate admissions at Yale University.
“We have come to the conclusion that we can have a much bigger impact on student access and completion if we work together,” Quinlan said.
Unlike the Common Application, which aims to create a uniform process among schools, the new website aims to help students dive deeper into many distinct applications. It will give them a place to store their checklists and essays and invite anyone to provide feedback and editing.
Each college will have its own portal where students can submit applications, but they’ll all be accessible through the same site. The portfolio tool will let students add any extra information they want. Artists can include samples of their work, and musicians can link to performance videos.
Colleges said they envision students using the website as early as their freshman year of high school. Some colleges will let students start applying through the website next summer.
The website is not yet live.
These are the colleges and universities involved in the coalition:
- Amherst College
- Bates College
- Bowdoin College
- Brown University
- Bryn Mawr College
- California Institute of Technology
- Carleton College
- Clemson University
- Colby College
- Colgate University
- College of the Holy Cross
- College of William & Mary
- Colorado College
- Columbia University
- Connecticut College
- Cornell University
- Dartmouth College
- Davidson College
- Duke University
- Emory University
- Franklin & Marshall College
- Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
- Georgia Institute of Technology
- Grinnell College
- Hamilton College
- Harvard University
- Haverford College
- Illinois State University
- Indiana University at Bloomington
- James Madison University
- Johns Hopkins University
- Miami University of Ohio
- Michigan State University
- Middlebury College
- Mount Holyoke College
- North Carolina State University
- Northeastern University
- Northwestern University
- Oberlin College
- Ohio State University
- Penn State
- Pomona College
- Princeton University
- Purdue University
- Reed College
- Rice University
- Rutgers University at New Brunswick
- Skidmore College
- Smith College
- St. Olaf College
- Stanford University
- State University of New York at Geneseo
- State University of New York at Buffalo
- Swarthmore College
- Texas A&M University
- Tufts University
- Union College
- University of Chicago
- University of Connecticut
- University of Florida
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- University of Maryland at College Park
- University of Michigan
- University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
- University of Missouri
- University of New Hampshire
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- University of Notre Dame
- University of Pennsylvania
- University of Pittsburgh
- University of Rochester
- University of South Carolina
- University of Vermont
- University of Virginia
- University of Washington
- Vanderbilt University
- Vassar College
- Virginia Tech
- Washington University in St. Louis
- Wellesley College
- Wesleyan University
- Williams College
- Yale University
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80 Colleges Just Announced A Website To Make It Easier To Apply
