“… Candidates for early admissions get many advantages, but the disadvantage the practice confers on low-income students is a fatal flaw. For that reason, colleges should abandon early admissions and return to admitting all students on the same timetable in the spring, so everyone competes on a level playing field.” …
I am wondering whether UChicago would do it and get rid of any of its EA, ED1, ED2. BTW, should we be surprised that maybe in the future there will be ED3, ED4…, or perhaps EA1, EA2…? 
Actually from what I read, this is the exact reason Cal Poly SLO is not offering ED this year.
Quote from the above posted article: “…Most important, because low-income students can’t attend college without getting substantial financial aid, they can’t commit to enrolling in an institution by applying on an early-decision basis. They need to compare aid offers once they hear from all the colleges and universities that accept them. This fact alone essentially precludes those with financial need from applying early…”
I suspect not only are “low-income” students impacted, but I’ll bet many “middle-income” students are impacted by this as well (given the cost of many highly selective schools), leaving the wealthy students with the advantage.
Points that apply to non-binding EA as well as binding ED:
I made a thread asking about the consequences of breaking an ED agreement ([source](http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1914880-what-exactly-are-the-consequences-of-breaking-an-early-decision-agreement-p1.html)). My understanding is that a low-income student could apply ED to a school and, if it turned out to be unaffordable, simply break the agreement and attend another school. Other schools wouldn’t “blacklist” the student because it would be clear that they truly couldn’t afford the ED school. Am I wrong about this?
Re #5
However, the student would not be able to compare FA with that of other schools. That could create a dilemma if the ED school gave a barely affordable net price, but the student is uncertain whether others will be better or worse.
ED is a useful and powerful tool that gives colleges all the power in the process. It will take a sea change for them to give it up. I think schools should share some of the empowerment of early applications. Colleges should offer an early answer to applicants but should in turn demand an early reply. Apply by November 1, you’ll have a non-binding answer (with FA package) by December 1, but the offer expires on January 1. Thus, everyone has a little power in the process. And colleges will know, by January 1, how many seats they will need to fill from RD.
I agree that guidance counselors need to do a better job educating low income students of their options. I have no idea how to accomplish this.
The problem with that approach ^^ is that it still doesn’t fix the problem of early admissions being beneficial to higher income families. Having the offer expire Jan 1 means that the family can’t compare FA packages- either they take it or lose it.
@yonceonhismouth If all schools offer this type of early process then you would be able to apply to your list of schools and compare all offers. Either the package works or it doesn’t. If none work, then you move on to your RD list.
Maybe in addition to the early reply you allow applicants to make one of three choices on Jan 1:
- accept offer
- decline offer
- decline EA offer but be put back in RD pool
Of course my idea is not perfect, but it is certainly better than the current ED process IMO.
ED definitely has adverse effects on middle income students as many of these students need to rely on combinations of merit aid and fa. As a student I appreciate EA because it is really relieving to know I will be attending college, but am infuriated by the ED advantage especially at highly selective institutions. The issue of knowledge is not just a problem for the low income students but also middle class and upper middle class students who attend public schools. I know many of my friends had misinformation about early action and early decision.
I like early admissions because they allow the student to get the process behind them and concentrate on other things during their senior year. My Son applied to Bentley University which no longer offers EA. We will need to wait until mid April to even hear from them. The result is a delay to the entire process as we cannot make any decision until we hear from all the colleges that he applied to. Our family finds this incredibly frustrating.
Can anyone put a number on the top 25% income level? I am thinking it is around $100K which to me is only middle class and not as ultra wealthy as the article makes it out to be. This is simply a working couple each making $50K a year. Not exactly huge money here in Boston.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States indicates that the 75th percentile household income was around $100,000 in 2014. However, the households with high school and college age kids are more likely to be headed by parents in their peak earning years, so the 75th percentile of those households is likely higher.
In expensive areas, the income percentiles often correspond to higher incomes than in the US overall.
@MassDaD68 Location makes a big difference on how far money goes. I’m assuming from your username that you are from MA, which has a high cost of living as compared to most of the country and so likely has a different income median.
But I think that proves my point, that the national median income for the top 25% is not all that high. So if the author of the article is using that stat to say that the top 25% is wealthy, I feel that is wrong.
There may be a huge difference in cost of living in different parts of the country but there does not seem to be corresponding drops in the price of tuition. The cost of instate or private college is pretty much the same nationwide. Give or take $5-10K. If private school here in MA is $60K, do privates in the middle of the country only charge $30K?