You're In: Private Colleges Admit More Students Who Didn't Apply
"(Bloomberg) -- Wingate University told thousands of high schoolers some good news: They were already accepted into the class of 2030, and they'd be receiving $24,000 of scholarships. No application required.
The private college outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, with some 2,600 undergraduates, is one of hundreds of universities that are admitting students who haven't even applied. While some colleges have been using the tactic called direct admissions for years, many more are now trying it out, as they fight for a shrinking pool of prospective undergraduates.
The Common App, a nonprofit that lets individuals apply to multiple institutions, started a direct admissions pilot in 2021 before launching as a full-scale program in 2023-24 with 70 schools. That jumped to 119 the following year, and most recently included 215 universities.
For the fall semester, Wingate which has a listed tuition of roughly $44,000 a year made such offers to 20,000 students and is set to enroll 500 undergraduates through that tactic. That's over 50% of its freshmen class...
As the number of high school seniors declines, more schools are shifting tactics and moving away from an ivory tower mentality to navigate the demographic cliff. Having a low admissions rate has long been a source of pride for colleges, but more schools are embracing an all-are-welcome approach as students become harder to recruit.
Roughly 400 private, not-for-profit four-year institutions have admissions rates of at least 80%...
"It's like chasing the unicorn, where everybody's competing for that same group of students," said Chip Edmonds, president of Lycoming College in Pennsylvania. The school, where tuition is roughly $52,000 a year, plans to offer direct admissions through the Common App this year."
If you wanted any proof that there was a massive oversupply of colleges, here you go. $176,000 for a BA (perhaps it should be called a BS) degree from Wingate University ($152,000 after the discount they call a scholarship).
"(Bloomberg) -- Wingate University told thousands of high schoolers some good news: They were already accepted into the class of 2030, and they'd be receiving $24,000 of scholarships. No application required.
The private college outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, with some 2,600 undergraduates, is one of hundreds of universities that are admitting students who haven't even applied. While some colleges have been using the tactic called direct admissions for years, many more are now trying it out, as they fight for a shrinking pool of prospective undergraduates.
The Common App, a nonprofit that lets individuals apply to multiple institutions, started a direct admissions pilot in 2021 before launching as a full-scale program in 2023-24 with 70 schools. That jumped to 119 the following year, and most recently included 215 universities.
For the fall semester, Wingate which has a listed tuition of roughly $44,000 a year made such offers to 20,000 students and is set to enroll 500 undergraduates through that tactic. That's over 50% of its freshmen class...
As the number of high school seniors declines, more schools are shifting tactics and moving away from an ivory tower mentality to navigate the demographic cliff. Having a low admissions rate has long been a source of pride for colleges, but more schools are embracing an all-are-welcome approach as students become harder to recruit.
Roughly 400 private, not-for-profit four-year institutions have admissions rates of at least 80%...
"It's like chasing the unicorn, where everybody's competing for that same group of students," said Chip Edmonds, president of Lycoming College in Pennsylvania. The school, where tuition is roughly $52,000 a year, plans to offer direct admissions through the Common App this year."
If you wanted any proof that there was a massive oversupply of colleges, here you go. $176,000 for a BA (perhaps it should be called a BS) degree from Wingate University ($152,000 after the discount they call a scholarship).
