The Changing College Process

The college process of two decades ago is no longer in effect today. Tuitions and fees have drastically increased, testing requirements have been reduced, extracurriculars have become a more critical component, and the submission format of applications has changed.

Whether a student is choosing to attend a college in-state or out, the cost of attendance is significantly higher than it relatively would have been 20 years ago. At public national universities, in-state expenses have increased by 175%, and out-of-state expenses have risen by 141%. Students in the present day are at a disadvantage compared to prospective college students at the beginning of the 21st century. 

“The cost for colleges, in general, has accelerated at a rate much greater than inflation,” Carey said.

Carey explained that a major reason for this has been the increases in construction and facility costs, which are done to improve the quality of campus life. 

“A lot of it is unavoidable because students love some of the frills that come with a higher cost. When I went to college, the food services were not like what I experience when I go over to the University of Iowa,” Carey said. 

Tuition and fees have not been the only observed changes. With the American education system steering away from a primary focus on academics to a greater focus on the development of a well-rounded individual, college admissions are increasingly placing importance on extracurricular activities. Elite colleges can no longer consider grades and test scores as the only qualifying criteria for admission. Colleges are now taking a more holistic approach, demanding that high school students are able to demonstrate an interest in activities. This is further amplified by the choice of many schools to go test-optional. 

Such changes have caused new challenges to arise for under-resourced students. With the advent of newer technologies, such as the Internet, adolescents are increasingly accomplishing impressive new feats that may set them apart in a crowd of applicants. However, students who are not fortunate enough to have access at home to the Internet or computers do not have the same opportunities presented to them, creating a societal rift in the applicant pool. 

Extracurriculars have not been the only factor creating a disadvantage for low-income students. According to the Common App, applications in November 2020 from low-income and first-generation students decreased by about 10% compared to the previous year. This is strongly linked to the financial hardships some families faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, reducing any hopes students had had about affording college. Fortunately, this rate has rebounded, and there have recently been relatively large increases in the number of underrepresented minority and first-generation applicants.

Counselor Beran also noted that there has been a rise in the number of adolescents who have been stressed or had anxiety while at school since the pandemic. Nearly 40% of all high school students reported in a 2022 CDC survey that they dealt with mental health issues during the pandemic.

“[There have been] students who didn’t do as well because they were online or dealing with mental health issues, and then that affected how they were doing,” Beran said.

The detrimental effects of the pandemic have caused many students to worry whether their academics are strong enough for them to be admitted into certain colleges. Fortunately, colleges are aware of the circumstances, and a new section was added to the Common App for students to write about how COVID-19 has influenced their experiences. 

“[The admissions process] has definitely improved. The Common App, that’s [been] very useful because you don’t have to do ten different applications,” Beran said. “You could pretty much do one long application, but it’s for multiple schools.”

The Common App and similar online applications are revolutionizing the application process. The program has made applying much more efficient, which in turn, has caused institutions to see a 10% increase in the number of applicants shortly after joining the Common App. 

As a consequence of the greater applicant turnout on the Common App, competition for acceptance to college has more than doubled, in many instances, compared to the end of the 20th century. At Harvard, the acceptance rate for the incoming class of 1995 was 11.8%. While this in itself is a very low rate, students’ chances of being accepted were much greater compared to today’s rate of 4.7%. For students worried about what this might mean for them, the majority of U.S. colleges have seen an increase in admission rates, and the majority of schools accept more than half of their applicants. 

Overall, the factors considered by student applicants today are different from those in the past. Prices, for the most part, have become more of a concern, while grades are no longer the main determinant. Rather than being required, test scores now instead serve as a helpful addition to a student’s application. The 21st century marks a new era for the college admissions and decision process.