All around us we see the affects of Covid-19 and what it has done to our community. For many seniors across the nation, it has some other consequential affects on their college admissions and where the students are planning on going. While college admissions can be a stressful event in any year, the shutdown of schools, standardized testing, college tours, and normal college recruitment activities, has made this year even more difficult in helping students navigate the high school to college process.
How has college admissions changed?
Many private and public colleges and universities throughout the nation went test optional, a term used when students have the option to submit college entrance exams or not. This was due to the lack of testing options for students as many testing sites were shutdown throughout the summer and into early fall. As colleges went test optional, more students began applying to the coveted seats of highly selective schools. Harvard College recently released that they had a 57% increase in early action college applications for Fall 2021, making it the most competitive early admissions season in the school’s history. Other top universities reported similar numbers and reported larger numbers of their class of 2024 who had deferred admissions and electing to take a gap year.
However, the Florida State University System (SUS) stood by their required ACT and SAT test scores for all students. Florida was the only state in the country that still required traditional incoming freshman to submit SAT or ACT scores for admissions. This is having a large effect on the SUS admissions cycle, with a decrease of applications of around 50% at some universities. For example, UCF saw a decrease of 21% with 50% fewer students submitting SAT scores compared to last year. Many SUS universities are rolling admissions, meaning they will review applications throughout the year.
Besides college applications being down fewer students are applying for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) this year. The Florida College Access Network of Florida predicts around $100 million dollars is left unused because students simply do not apply. From 2018 to 2019, fewer local SW Florida students applied for FAFSA which counted in a loss of over $600,000 for our students.
Recently, the FutureMakers Coalition, a coalition of educators, business partners, and community leaders, held a Student Voice Summit, which invited local high school students to discuss “real time” perspectives of students to better understand educational barriers. Through the Student Summit, 64% of high school students said they believed the Covid-19 crisis will impact some part of their postsecondary journey, 22% stated it would severely impact their journey, and 14% stated it had no impact.
How to Move Forward
There is still a great deal of uncertainty for the remaining school year and into next. As parents and students start to look forward, many are reconsidering what their options are. Some key things to note.
Due to the pandemic, many post-secondary institutions have increased the usability and functionality of their websites, including online document submission, orientations, and virtual tours. For example, Florida SouthWestern State College has worked hard at meeting student needs by adding new chat features on the website for instant solutions, created new modalities of learning, and created new classroom conversions for their eLearning platforms. These new approaches will allow students to interact on their own time and in their own way. Students can expect for many colleges to keep these new methods even after they fully resume with on-campus courses.
Colleges that have gone test optional are evaluating keeping this new admissions policy. This could lend to a wider range of students being reviewed in a more holistic approach, rather than a set of test scores. These would lead to students have a great focus on their academic planning and extra-curricular activities in and out of school.
Students are looking into all educational options that meet their needs. For example, Florida has very strong articulation agreements between the state college system and the state university system. General education courses, traditionally taken in the first two years of college, are easily transferrable and protected under state law. So, while a student might have had some admissions limitations, transferring between colleges and universities can be a great choice and very cost effective as well. Students can easily take courses at their home institutions and transfer the credit when things fully resume.
Lastly, there is quite a bit of money in both scholarships and financial aid still on the table to our SW Florida students. With scholarship applications down through our local foundations, more students will have a chance of earning those top scholarship dollars that are either merit or financial aid based. As well, all our local post-secondary institutions and school districts have created some great tutorials on how to complete the FAFSA.
In the end, Covid has led to some new innovative ways to help support and reach students. Parents and students should continue looking at their post-secondary options as it is even more imperative in this post-Covid world to earn a degree or credential.