SURPRISE! YOU'VE BEEN ACCEPTED! WAIT....WHAT?

Applications during a pandemic are an interesting phenomenon. Students typically receive notifications from their colleges by the beginning of April. The usual timing of acceptances accommodates the decision day deadline of May 1st. This year, however, things are different.

Some colleges had the foresight to realize that coronavirus had the potential to become an ongoing situation and accepted more students than usual upfront at the beginning of the crisis,. This was a way for them to hedge anticipated lower enrollments.  Others are attempting to fill empty seats by contacting students directly and offering them a spot much later in the normal timeline. Some students, who were previously accepted but did not leave a housing deposit, perhaps because they committed to another college, have been contacted by schools asking students and their parents how the college can make their offer more attractive. These unprecedented actions are a consequence of the pandemic.

The third option for colleges, concerned about their yield, is to pull students off the waitlist. Colleges have always feared “summer shrink,” where some students change their minds about their college choices over the summer and do not attend in the fall after committing. This year the pandemic compounds the strain of lower-than-normal yield rates because coronavirus has created financial concerns for many families, who may have experienced a loss of income.  The perceived value of colleges is on the line according to surveys. No final decisions have been made regarding whether colleges will be offering online education or face-to-face instruction. Parents and students have shared their reluctance to pay full price for remote learning. Offering further discounts may stretch colleges beyond the limits of their operating budgets and may not be possible. All colleges would like to open, however, decisions made by each state governor will supersede the decisions of university presidents. Complicating things further, protocols for adhering to social distancing will present challenges for all colleges. Some have shared that they intend to close all common areas and that dining facilities will be restricted to the grab-and-go option. This leaves more questions than answers. What can be done about shared bathrooms? Is there enough space on campus to limit class sizes? And who will be held responsible if reinfection occurs? Students and parents are encouraged to embrace the uncertainty, at least until move-in day.

If you received the “Surprise! You’ve been accepted!” notification from your college, there are several things you need to be aware of. 

Colleges, having lower enrollments, may be willing to modify financial aid packages to fill their empty seats. Without students living in their dorms and eating in the cafeterias, smaller colleges with limited endowments are not profitable. They will strive to meet their enrollment goals, even if it means providing more financial aid in many cases.

If you have pulled off a waitlist, be aware that colleges prefer students who are willing and able to pay the full sticker price. They’ve already distributed financial aid packages and when they start pulling from the waitlist, colleges hope to find students having no financial need after completing the FAFSA (the family’s EFC exceeds the cost of attendance), or families who never completed the FAFSA and don’t want financial aid. ( I know. This is hard for me to believe as well!) At that point, applicants who are accepted from the waitlist will have little to no bargaining power.

I received a phone call this week from a family who neglected to complete their FAFSA and just received the “Surprise! You’ve been accepted!” email. They called to ask me if it was possible to complete a FAFSA and get some financial aid at this point in time. They also wanted me to give them information about the college and offered to pay me for my help. They had made so many mistakes that I couldn’t possibly work with them, out of my fear of being held responsible for a potentially bad outcome.

Beware of the waitlist! The excitement of being wanted is not a justifiable reason to abandon common sense or to bankrupt your finances.