Are they still bound by NACAC’s rules?
I was under the impression that was changed under pressure from the Department of Justice, and that NACAC rules are no longer binding on its members.
Of course, its rules were never binding on parents, and this discussion is really about what parents should do. I do suggest discussing with your GC, who may provide other perspectives and options.
Yes, technically there is a pause on the CEPP’s as the DOJ changes are made, but most members (GCs and AOs alike) are still following the guidelines. Again, not sure how a student will progress in the enrollment process for two schools when the HS will only send out a final transcript to one college, not two.
I truly don’t understand how people can justify taking two spots, when obviously the student can only matriculate to one school. That behavior clearly harms another student.
Why would a high school not send more than one final transcript? Does anyone making this claim work in a high school?
Just like medical records, the transcript belongs to the student, not the school. It’s the student’s right to decide where their transcript is sent. There can be lots of legitimate reasons why final transcripts need to go to more than one college. Multiple final transcripts are also requested for employers, the military, etc.
Don’t get me started on the ethics of the college admissions process. I’m not attending any pity parties for colleges who sell slots to the highest bidder, give seats and money to minor league “student” athletes, discriminate against deserving students as currently alleged in multiple lawsuits, etc, etc. Cry me a river.
I wonder if any colleges will be refunding tuition to students who aren’t interested in distance learning and don’t believe that it fulfills what they contracted for. Distance learning? Seriously? Ethical?
Schools want to know by May 1 due to the fact that the sooner they know, the sooner they can plan for what they have. Having said that, many schools have postponed the date to June 1st including many large Universities such as Indiana, Oklahoma, etc. The key to this is that THIS IS NOT LIKE ANY OTHER YEAR. There are so many movings parts to this. Fall semester as we know it might end up being no different from how we are seeing it right now, all virtual learning.
There are so many families completely lost with what is going on right now and with the uncertainties of what lies ahead. Financially speaking, the world has completely changed in a matter of weeks. Whatever actions we took 6 months ago might no longer apply today and who knows what the next 6 months will be. In my opinion, all the schools should postpone the date to June 1. As it is, many prospective students never had a chance to even visit a school.
To answer the original poster, this is a very fair question and under the circumstances not an unethical one with so many unknowns especially to those considering an OOS option (more $$$ and distance) vs an in-state option.
I agree that distance learning isn’t optimal, but do you really think that students would choose to terminate the semester, get a refund and start the semester all over in the future – even though it would mean graduating in 4.5 years instead of 4? Even though most of their classes aren’t offered every semester, and many aren’t offered every year? Even though it would pose great logistical challenges to both students and schools? Do you think that any seniors would put off graduating and return to campus next year (even though there won’t be any dorm space available for them), simply so that they won’t have to endure the “tragedy” of six weeks of online classes?
I think it’s a lot healthier and more realistic for students (and parents) to think of the distance learning situation as one of the sacrifices that all of us have to make during this difficult time. I certainly don’t expect my town to refund part of my property taxes to make up for the fact that our local parks have been closed and various other services temporarily cut back.
I completely agree. These are extraordinary times and it’s understandable that colleges have to offer watered down versions of what students and parents are paying for. (What are kids in lab courses supposed to do? Science experiments in the bathtub or the kitchen sink? Fun for the whole family.) Compromises have to be made.
For the same reasons, I’m not going to question the ethics of a family who puts down deposits on 2 different schools to buy themselves time. They’ll have to make a decision before too long anyway when tuition payments come due. Extraordinary circumstances require extraordinary actions.
Almost everyone was caught off guard by this pandemic. So compromises in emergency circumstances are understandable. But we don’t expect a vaccine to be available to the general public for another year. So, are colleges going to go forward with business as usual in the fall? Are they going to make adjustments to their schedules in light of what now can be anticipated? Are they going to be fully transparent? If we see the same mess next year, someone’s going to have some explaining to do.
Do you also not care about students stuck on waitlists because other students are holding two spots?
I don’t really have strong feelings about this either way, but come on. It even has a name- summer melt- and schools expect it and plan for it.
Summer melt may be due to a student dropping a second deposited school, but it historically references a student who ultimately does not enroll in the one college they deposited to…often low SES students due to financial reasons.
Another typical reason for summer melt happens when an enrolled student gets off the waitlist elsewhere and forfeits the deposit at the school they initially deposited to.
I am still surprised at the number of people who believe it’s ok for a student to hold two spots…a practice that directly harms another student. What if it were your kid on the other end of that situation?
At the HS where I was a GC we were so very careful to make sure our students never double deposited…one of the practices that prevented this was only sending a final transcript to one school for graduating seniors (a typical practice).
Preventing double deposits is one of the reasons that the GC Dept is typically in charge of sending graduating senior transcripts to the final college destination, while the registrars handles all other transcript requests…transfers, places of employment, grad school apps, etc.
I am perfectly Ok putting down two deposits. As it is, we do not even know what these schools are planning to do in the fall. I actually would want to know what it is that I am agreeing to and I am not sure that many schools would be as transparent as they should be by May 1st.
Take a school that admits a student for Summer B (Florida schools such as FSU and UF) rather than Fall. As it is, these schools have already announced that Summer A and Summer C will be online. However, they are still dancing with the notion that Summer B still a go. They already announced that all orientations are going to be held online. If you are OOS and you are paying $$$ tuition, you might not want to start a Freshman in the summer without having a chance to visit the campus and let alone online without having the normal social interaction that many OOS are looking for. In this case, this student puts a second deposit at a different school for a Fall Start. The extra 2 months will make a huge difference under the circumstances.
I used to work in the schools. Only one final transcript is sent. The only exception is if a student gets off a waitlist, the school will send the waitlist school the final transcript.
You know…every single year families question college finances. I understand this year is a little different…but my advice…pick a college now. Don’t deposit at two colleges. Pick one.
@Mwfan1921 my kid is on a waitlist- for her number one choice school, and it doesn’t change my opinion here. If the school wanted her they wouldn’t have deferred her EA and then waitlisted her RD. She accepted her waitlist spot, assumed that she wasn’t getting called up, and deposited at her second choice. I still don’t fault other people for covering their bases vs worrying about the school’s bottom line right now.
Well, the good news is most HSs have a process in place to prevent double depositing from happening.
Good luck with the waitlist, there very well might be more students getting off waitlists this year than in previous years…mostly due to students not able to attend any more for financial reasons. Schools won’t be able to meet all of the ‘professional judgment’ requests they are currently receiving.
I haven’t looked at the numbers across colleges in depth for this year, but I know the college my daughter is at made more absolute admits than last year for the same number of expected students, so it seems part of that is already accounted for in the calculations. I have no idea what the size of their waitlist is (it’s not been on the CDS), but a lot of people on CC are also waitlisted there. However the FAQ says that in the past, between zero and “hundreds” of students have come off it - in that context, the 700 extra admits this year looks pretty ample.
I see this “more waitlist likely to come off” this year being cited often here on CC, but if many schools also expected lower yield and made more admits as a result - then that may not actually be the case.
Maybe I’m being dense but I don’t understand the last sentence. Double depositing doesn’t hurt a school’s bottom line assuming they have eager students happy to come off the waitlist late - something I’ve certainly seen happen - and gives the schools some more petty cash by keeping the non-refundable deposit. It does harm the person on the waitlist who knows they have it as their first choice and keeps them in uncertainty longer.
(Your daughter may be blasé about being on the waitlist but not all are. Plenty other threads on cc to attest to that.)
I agree that it’s not a blanket statement…waitlist use will likely vary by school.
Some schools released RD decisions before the pandemic became a ‘thing’, while others released after it became apparent that it would be bad. The schools in the former bucket are more likely to not have over accepted, while the second group may have increased their admits as you mentioned.
The schools that over admitted are also the ones that may be less likely to extend their May 1 deadline. I listened to a webinar where a UCLA director of admission said no way they will extend the deadline to June 1 because if they did they would be over enrolled.
@SJ2727 I’ve seen posts (not by you) where people spoke of it harming the colleges- they need to plan their revenue and it may be too late to admit from the waitlist when they realize the student isn’t coming. I’m in the camp that doesn’t expect to see extra waitlist movements this year. It does suck for some kids on waitlists that are really invested in them, but honestly I don’t think that’s a healthy way to go about it anyway. They should be ready and mentally prepped to attend their next choice.
I already know people who have double enrolled. They both mentioned the possibility of the Fall Semester being online and neither one wants to pay the higher tuition fees to the more expensive school when the same “education” can be had for much much less. Students can eventually transfer to these schools too.
Let’s not kid ourselves, there is a very good chance a lot of schools will not be transparent by May 1st and for the ones that are, will they be willing to reimburse the deposits to those who do not want to attend? Many schools are already over enrolling knowing that many will not show up.
Source?
Do schools keep records of these things? I doubt someone who deposited, withdrew late and then applied for a transfer a year later with grades from another college that they almost certainly double deposited at, would be kindly looked on as a transfer applicant. I think if you’re going to do that, forget about the school you’ve done this to.
You are not holding 2 spots until sept 1, you are holding 2 spots until you can see a school, which in past years was not an issue, or worried about a job loss , ( the premise of this thread IIRC) or seeing what a college will do come the fall semester, and there is no guarantee schools will use their waitlist, as others have mentioned many schools have accepted a higher number of kids. The HS transcript thing is a non issue , you will decide what school to have them send it to, right now I assume colleges will be pretty understanding if dear old high school is behind in sending stuff to the college.