The mysterious mechanisms that kick into gear once a high school student submits his or her college application make it seem like even luck may have a part in the process.
But for some schools, there is an additional criterion that students may not be aware of, which can influence whether they get in and how much initial financial aid they are offered.
A recent Inside Higher Ed article brought to light that some colleges use the order in which schools are listed in a student’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid in making admissions decisions. The online periodical also reported that schools may use a student’s preference in making a financial aid offer.
Students are not asked to list colleges preferentially on the form, but universities have found that “FASFA position,” or the position a school appears on the list, tends to correspond to students’ favored destination.
Although some colleges, like UCLA, have taken measures to avoid bringing bias from financial aid information into their admissions decisions, some colleges have not. Thus, it is imperative that all colleges separate the process of FAFSA from admissions to ensure fairness to all applicants.
In fact, UCLA provides an example for just how that separation can occur.
UCLA’s model of undergraduate admissions splits the acceptance process so that financial aid is handled by the Financial Aid Office and the actual admissions decision is carried out by Undergraduate Admissions and Relations with Schools.
By segregating the process of judging applications from the process of crafting financial aid offers, colleges can ensure that their applicants are being judged fairly. Giving FAFSA information to the admissions offices only after decisions are made makes the process more fair for students.
Since the “FAFSA position” is not related to a student’s qualifications for admission, it should have no place in that decision. Factors such as student preference of colleges should not affect college acceptances and financial aid offers.
The specific information that students provide on their FAFSA is highly sensitive, and there is a reasonable expectation that it is separate from the information they share directly with schools. So it’s feasible that students wouldn’t consider that the U.S. Department of Education sends the complete list of the colleges where students apply to all those schools.
Mark Lewis, a private college counselor in Los Angeles, said he was unaware of the admissions practice, but sees how it can be used to help colleges improve their student yield, or the ratio of students who enroll versus students who are accepted.
Yield rates are viewed as an indicator for prestige and exclusivity: a high yield rate means students are eager to attend that school. Since colleges can guess based on “FAFSA position” which students prefer their school, they can bolster their reputation for being selective and desirable.
Colleges should not be faulted for attempting to enroll a higher number of qualified applicants that prefer their school. But those determinations should be made in student interviews and personal statements.
When universities are able to see where applicants prefer to go, they can also take the upper hand in financial aid offers by giving less financial aid to students who rate their school highly.
These practices are unfair to students and college counselors
who are unaware that the “FAFSA position” is being distributed to colleges.
The Financial Aid Office processes FAFSAs for student applicants, but the order of the FAFSA list of colleges does not affect the amount of financial aid given, said Renan Vazquez, an outreach coordinator in the Financial Aid Office.
As for the acceptance process, Undergraduate Admissions is only given FAFSA information after admissions decisions are made, according to a statement from the Office of Undergraduate Admissions.
It is unlikely that colleges would stop a practice that benefits them in a multitude of ways, but they should, since the practice unfairly correlates financial aid and admissions decisions with something neither academic nor financial in nature.
Ultimately, to ensure the fairness of the admissions process, the Department of Education should redact the list of schools students apply to when sending out FAFSA information. But until that happens, it’s up to individual colleges to ensure the integrity of their admissions practices.
Judging students on an arbitrary list of colleges for admissions and financial aid will only lead to a mistrust of a system that’s charged with making one of the most important decisions in a student’s life.
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