Guys, it’s about to go down in Louisville, Kentucky next week at the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) Conference.  And I don’t mean Counselors Gone Wild (though there will be some of that at the BIG 12 party, like there is every year). I mean, real, big time stuff that’s going to change the college admissions landscape. And no one outside of college admissions is talking about it.

Hopefully that super dramatic intro caught your attention. Here’s what’s up and here’s why this is relevant to you and our school (also, get ready for a lot of acronyms). 

For the past two years, the anti-trust division of the Department of Justice has been investigating NACAC’s Code of Ethics and Professional Practices (CEPP).  Basically, the DOJ thinks certain provisions in the CEPP limit competition amongst colleges for students. Knowing that it wouldn’t have the funding nor manpower to continue fighting with the DOJ, NACAC negotiated a consent decree.  At the Annual Membership Meeting at the end of the conference next week, all NACAC members (members are high schools, colleges, CBOs) will vote to remove the provisions from the CEPP that the DOJ believes limit competition. 

So what does that mean? Well, that’s what everyone in our industry has been asking each other for the past two weeks since the vote was announced.  Our team attended a webinar hosted by NACAC’s president and legal counsel, and we’ve been asking every college rep who comes through. Here’s what we’ve learned and what the ramifications could be:

1. Early Decision (ED) – the application plan where a student says, if you admit me I promise to go to your school and rescind all my other applications – goes away.  


With students applying to more schools than ever before and yield rates (% of admits who enroll) dropping, colleges rely heavily on ED to shape their classes. With no ED, demonstrated interest is going to become super important as colleges try to determine who is most likely to attend their school.  Remember, colleges need high yield rates to maintain high bond ratings and strong showings in the rankings. Families are going to feel pressure to demonstrate interest even earlier than before.  


2. Incentives like priority housing, enhanced financial aid packages, and special scholarships for early applicants will no longer be against the rules.


Imagine being 17 and suddenly, colleges are dangling all kinds of carrots in front of you. How do you ignore the noise and flattery? How do you stay committed to choosing the school that’s the best fit for you – not the one with the most perks?


3. Colleges can continue recruiting students well past the May 1 national signing deadline.

Hello, volatility. Imagine you’re College A and you received commitments from 500 incoming freshmen students by May 1. You planned your number of beds, classes, faculty members, etc. around that number. But then, imagine that College B, who was also hoping to enroll 500 students, only enrolled 450. So College B decides to start recruiting some of your students so it can meet its enrollment target. 25 of your students choose to leave to go to College B.  Now, you need to fill those 25 spots, so you look to your waitlist or your applicant pool and try to incentivize 25 students over to you. Can you see the ripple effect? Waitlists will be bigger than ever. Predictive models go out the window. It’ll be the wild west. And/or colleges will demand high enrollment deposits (like a full year’s tuition) to prevent students from jumping ship, a policy that will just benefit wealthy kids who can afford to double deposit.


4. Colleges can continue recruiting students to transfer to their school when those students are freshmen elsewhere.

The ripple effect described above just continues. Imagine being a freshman in college, you have a bad first month, you open your email and there’s an invitation from College B to apply to transfer to their school. The grass is greener. You leave College A for B. You start all over, again. The stress of moving, making new friends, choosing a college. It just continues. 

How does this impact us?

This matters because the stress and frenzy around college admissions is about to get a lot worse as colleges employ new strategies to fill their classes.  It’s more important than ever that we come together as a community in support of our students and parents to guide them through this process. As college & career counselors, we only talk with our students once or twice a year. And both settings are super formal – 1:1 meetings or large evening programs. We need your help reinforcing the messaging that you and we already try imparting on our students.  We need to do an even better job of giving our students the tools, confidence, and courage to: 

1. know who they are, what they need, and what they want (not what their parents want, nor what their peers think is cool).  They are going to need a boatload of self-awareness and self-reflection to ignore the flurry of incentives that will come their way from colleges that aren’t right for them. 
2. know that prestige doesn’t guarantee success and name brands don’t define them. Finding a college that supports and challenges them intellectually, emotionally, socially, and spiritually will put them on paths to success.  We know this, but do our students? How do we help them believe in the power of fit?

So, there’s your bombshell. And, who knows? Maybe the vote in favor of the consent decree won’t pass next week.  But, if it does, and the news starts circulating you can impress your friends at dinner parties by telling them you heard it here first (JK, hopefully you have more interesting things to discuss at said dinner parties). Bottom line, I’ve never blogged before, I’m hopeful this can start a conversation because our team needs and wants your help. Let’s break some silos.