Threat No. 2 — National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) Changes
At their annual meeting this fall, NACAC (The National Association
for College Admission Counseling) voted
to suspend their Code
of Ethics and Professional Practices (CEPP). This action was in response to
a challenge from the Department of Justice, which had determined that the CEPP
amounted to collusion on the part of colleges and universities because it
limited student choice.
For decades NACAC members had agreed not to:
- Provide incentives for Early Decision;
- Recruit students who had committed elsewhere;
- Pursue students after 1 May (with the exception of wait lists); or
- Recruit students enrolled elsewhere, unless the student initiated the process.
The DOJ averred that families were not benefitting from a
truly open and competitive market. Many NACAC members, especially high-school
guidance counselors, believed that the CEPP helped them to place students in
institutions where they would be most successful. Both sides have valid points.
Given the recent meteoric rise in discount rates, it is hard
to imagine families will see significant savings, but bidding wars may become
common practice.
A number of colleges had worked outside the CEPP guidelines
before the recent suspension. This was especially true regarding incentives for
Early Decision.
The changes of practice that are receiving the most
attention on campuses this fall are the
new allowances for institutions to continue recruiting students who have already
committed to another university and to initiate the recruitment of students who
are enrolled elsewhere.
In an October survey of enrollment professionals conducted
by EAB, a larger portion of institutions were implementing
new efforts to retain recruited students than were planning to “poach” from
others.
A third were allotting additional strategic financial aid,
and a similar portion was planning to significantly increase the amount of
their deposits to make it less attractive to switch to another institution. A
ninth were considering pursing applicants who had enrolled at a competitor, and
about twice that many were considering continuing to recruit students who had
deposited at another institution.
Four out of five institutions surveyed, said they were
stepping up summer communication with deposited students. Many indicated that
they were accelerating housing and roommate assignments and course schedules.
In our era of instant delivery, these are meaningful
gestures to prospective students and their families. Many of them are aware of
the thousands of students who take more than four years to graduate because of
a shortage of required classes, but this a typically a symptom of large public
schools. Among nearly all private liberal arts colleges, that doesn’t happen. A
hallmark of our institutions has been an onboarding process that included multiple
interactions between students and faculty advisors before selecting a bespoke
set of courses for that students.
I am glad that many of the changes that are taking place
will streamline the enrollment process for our students, but I fear more and
more of them will be entranced by bidding wars and perks rather than fit and return
on investment.
I hope in this new “wild west” of enrollment practices that,
like Susquehanna, our sister institutions stay focused on their missions and
the best interests of the students we were all founded to serve.
