According to one of the Tulane FA officers I spoke to, “Tulane does our best to meet 100% financial need,” though they do not guarantee it. Tulane has moved away from merit aid is offering more need-based aid.
@4kids4colleges - your article is behind a paywall. Do you have another link to it?
Tulane has been pretty clear that they are now offering no loans awards (NOLA) to families with adjusted gross incomes of $75k and less http://www2.tulane.edu/financialaid/grants/nola.cfm. and has redshifted some aid from merit to need based aid https://tulanehullabaloo.com/44695/news/money-matters-tulane-reduces-merit-aid-budget-increases-need-based-financial-aid-spending/
Yes Tulane (and other schools) use enrollment management strategies. These aren’t “games”. They have goals and budgets and targets and they will try different approaches to meet those goals. They tried SCEA a few years ago and abandoned it. Now they (and other schools) are trying something else. If these work to help them achieve their goals, they will probably continue in the future. Anyone remember when Princeton, Harvard and UVA discontinued their early admissions option (I think it was ED back then) only to find that other schools didn’t follow suit, so they reinstated an early action (Harvard and UVA) and SCEA (Princeton). Schools will try different approaches to address multifaceted admissions goals, and the private schools have the right to, whether the applicant likes it or not. If it flops, they will try something else.
@socaldad2002 That’s exactly why above I said you shouldn’t apply ED if you need merit aid as it can’t be counted on (nor is it an out for ED anyways). I’m atrocious talking about FA. And you’re correct, Tulane is moving away from merit to offer more FA. Awards were definitely lower this year.
@jym626 here is an article discussing the WSJ article on ED. Can’t seem to find another link to the actual article.
https://grownandflown.com/who-benefits-new-twist-admissions-game/
Thanks, @4kids4colleges . That article says this strategy, of encouraging students to apply ED II yielded 625 ADDITIONAL ED applications last year. That is very significant. They accepted 36% of ED applicants last year, and filled 26% of their freshman class with ED applicants last year. Some colleges fill half or more of their freshman class with ED applicants (Middlebury filled 64% of its class with ED applicants last year!!)
While I understand how ED benefits these schools (and often the student, definitely in my son’s case though a different school) I just can’t get behind the idea that a form email that is sent to every EA applicant is stress inducing.
Email from Colorado College encouraging switch to ED:
Finding your college fit is always the most important part of the admission process, and we’re thrilled you’re considering the CC community as one of your future “home away from homes” for the next four years. At this point, you might even be thinking CC is not just an option, but rather your number one choice for college. Now, what can you do to help make that possibility of being admitted into more of a reality?
Based on the application materials you have already submitted, our records indicate you plan to apply Regular Action. Our question for you is this: why not consider Early Decision? Last year, we admitted 27% of our Early Decision applicants (binding). Meanwhile, we admitted only 5% of Regular Action applicants (non-binding).
We want you to apply in the round which is best for you, but we would love to see you join other applicants in showing great energy and excitement by committing to Colorado College through an Early Decision application. If you would like to switch your application to be considered Early Decision, you must update your Applicant Status Page to reflect this change by tomorrow, February 1, 2019.
Many find it stressful because of the non-transparent admission process. Specifically, many wonder if they choose not to change their app to ED, will this have a negative effect on one’s application? Especially for schools that take demonstrated interest into account, those who choose to go into the ED pool will likely have an advantage (beyond just an ED bump, assuming there is one at the school). Which means those who choose to stay in EA or RD pool don’t have that advantage, and are therefore, disadvantaged.
Wow, had no idea the admit rate at Colorado college had gone so low for RD!
For CC: “For the sixth consecutive year, more than half of the applicant pool chose to apply either Early Decision (ED) or Early Action (EA). The overall admit rate remained this year at 15 percent and the admit rates by round are as follows: 27% Early Decision I/II; 19% Early Action; 5% Regular Action.”
Seems like RD is pretty much a waste of time at many of these schools.
As for the stress - I think for some it was a very short period of time to decide, after being deferred EA to Tulane, whether to switch to EDII. For us, S had to make a quick decision, at the same time he was finishing up other apps, during winter break, and knowing if he needed the counselor to sign his ED agreement he had to do it before school was closed for break. So yeah, it was a little stressful. Certainly not ideal.
@4kids4colleges I get how in your situation that would be a bit stressful. I’m really referring to the kids who apply EA and then get the email explaining ED before they have a decision. People say that email is highly stress inducing and I just don’t get why.
ED applicants will always have the advantage. It is what it is. My son wouldn’t have gotten into his school RD, too many Ivy rejects in that pool. He had to make his decision and I stood behind it. He knew going in that if they didn’t meet our need he wouldn’t be able to go. I did do everything in my power to make sure I had a realistic idea of what they could give us, even over estimating the equity in our home just in case. I agree for many schools RD is close to an impossibility.
@collegemom9, see the email from Colorado College–we got it one day before the deadline to switch to ED, and the subtext is “it’s highly unlikely that you’re going to get in unless you switch to ED right now. RIGHT NOW because the deadline is tomorrow.” I can see how that could stress a kid out, especially if they’re not in a position to apply ED. Since D has already been accepted to Tulane, this is low-stakes for her so she’s not stressed about it, but it might have been a different story if she didn’t get into Tulane.
I still don’t get it. These figures are available before they are sent in a letter. The fact of the matter is that a 5% rate means it’s very unlikely you will get in RD. That fact is stressful. I don’t see how the letter makes it more stressful. In fact, it offers another option for those who consider it their top choice.
The issue is that the level of trust you have to have in the NPC is terrifying given the total cost for Tulane is 75K. At 75K, it’s really difficult to go EA since at the end of the day, if you don’t get the aid, what do you do? It’s a pretty jaw dropping amount.
@IngaB123 It’s not terrifying though as the agreement you sign specifically says that if you don’t get the FA you need you don’t have to accept. The NPC is actually very accurate at Tulane and they do a great job in meeting need. If the number you see there is affordable you print it out and if it doesn’t come out the way you need it to be then you appeal or decline.
Some odd discussion here. To clarify based on experience. Our daughter applied EA last year and got in with the maximum merit package (apart from the free rides). She is there and very happy. Many highly qualified kids don’t get in because when you are at under 20% admission rate, many highly qualified kids aren’t going to get in regardless of the school. You are not committed to anything at all EA.
Tulane is really trying to control its class size - they overshot the last two years because yield improved. It seems to be a high priority this year to see if they can stay with their target. I’m sure that’s also contributed to the 13% admission rate.
The rise in ED was striking to us even last year as she’s our younger one and the shift in four years since our older one was striking. It’s a big advantage to the colleges to lock in a high percentage of students early and very challenging for kids to manage. Our daughters went to a school where the advisors are not keen on ED because they said kids often change their minds between the fall and the spring. But the shift in this direction certainly encourages kids to jump to ED.
For entertainment - kid of some friends of ours got into an elite school ED this year with no aid. They had not fully understood what ED means and now they are stuck with paying the full price…
Tulane is playing a game and had been. Four years ago when my eldest was applying to colleges Tulane sent never ending mail and offers for a free priority application completely unsolicited. It was obvious they were trying to decrease their admit rate. Last time I looked the vast majority of colleges are nonprofits where many of its students receive goverment backed aid. Obviously they are not the only school doing this. The amount of money spent by universities for recruitment seems quite ridiculous who have more than enough qualified applicants. ED is something I inherently disagree with as it reinforces the haves from the have nots. Affordabilty is far more complex than the NPC calculator.
@sucubadive Tulane also changed their merit awards, and increased need based aid. People who did the NPC in the fall (like our family) may have gotten a false sense of what the cost would be. This is the case for us. We used all real numbers for the calculator just days before my son filled out the application. The numbers he got from the calculator were substantially different from what we got from Tulane. He was accepted in the EA round, but the change in strategy to moving money away from the merit bucket to the need based bucket pushed Tulane into a different category for us. The number we saw in August would have been hard to do, but we could have managed it. What we got back in February was completely out of our reach.
We did go to the admitted students event in our city. My son really wanted to attend it, even though he knew that he wasn’t going to be able to attend Tulane. Tulane changed their policies to increase diversity - all we saw at that reception were wealthy white kids for the most part.
For a back-of-the-envelope calculation based on the current application total combined with the most
recent IPEDS figures from when Tulane’s yield was 25%, the acceptance rate for this year might land at ~18%. A higher yield, of course, would result in a lower acceptance rate.
When my youngest applied to college the financial packages were nothing akin to the NPC. Colleges stack the packages with loans. Anyway based on what I saw I found it be incredibly disingenous. ED is for full pay students for the most part and they know it as it is far too risky for many to sign a contract for an unknown where you may or may not be able to afford it. People equate quality of education to admission rate and that is really not true and colleges, parents and students are feeding this frenzy. Is Tulane or any college a better school now that it is admissions rate has dropped? So while they market for more students to go up in the rankings, kids are expected to go over the top to gain admissions. Its a vicious cycle while college is becoming more unaffordable as they race to the top.
Agree that the college application feeding frenzy has become absurd. Wish there was a way to limit the # of schools to which a student could apply. When my kids were applying, their HS (a private school) limited the # you could apply to; any over that went to the bottom of their pile of “things to send out” and it cost the family and extra $50/application to do this. It was their way of making the students do their HW and apply appropriately- not throw a million applications out to see what sticks, nor to claim that they are doing it to see what best scholarship $ they can get. Learning to read a college’s Common Data set can help discern this somewhat.
That said, its disingenuous to call what the colleges are doin “a game”. Colleges are a business and it’s important for applicants to understand this. Colleges advertise, they market, they solicit. This is not a surprise. We may not agree with any school’s marketing strategies, but of the school feels it works for them, that is their prerogative. Several years ago it was WUSTL that got slammed for killing so many trees with their mailings.
Tulane’s strategy seems to have shifted somewhat with the arrival of the new Dean of Enrollment Management in the summer of 2016. So those of us remembering the previous approach taken by Earl Retif, well the times they are a changin’, to quote Bob Dylan. Do not assume that what you thought to be true just a few years ago at Tulane still does.
Separate rant- I wish the media would stop highlighting kids who get accepted to 20+ colleges. This is, IMO, an example of a student not doing one’s HW, and a bad example of the college application process.