Colleges court students with faculty tours and fee waivers

The pool of high school graduates choosing to attend college has shrunk from 70 percent in 2016 to 63 percent in 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This decline forces institutions to rethink how they attract and retain students.

Colleges are abandoning the traditional, secretive approach to admissions in favor of open, accessible interactions. At Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., faculty members now meet with prospective students to open labs and classrooms. This practice was previously reserved for the admissions office.

The shift is a response to a tightening market. The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education projects that the supply of traditional-age freshmen nationwide will drop by 13 percent over the next 15 years. Two-thirds of admissions leaders reported trouble meeting enrollment targets in at least one of the last two years, according to a Niche survey.

Public universities in 17 states now admit high school students who have not formally applied. More than 150 private colleges make direct offers to students who submit the Common App, a standardized application used by about 1,200 institutions. Some schools are also waiving application fees and offering extra financial aid for campus visits.

The ease of admission is outpacing public perception. Nearly 8 in 10 first-year applicants to public colleges and 7 in 10 to private colleges are accepted, the National Association for College Admission Counseling reports. This is up from 68 percent and 65 percent, respectively, a decade ago. Only 33 colleges and universities in the country admit 10 percent or fewer of their undergraduate applicants.

A Pew Research Center survey found that more than 40 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds wrongly believe it is harder to get into college now than for their parents' generation. Angel Pérez, NACAC's CEO, attributes this misconception to the high visibility of elite schools like Caltech, Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford, which each accept about one applicant in 25.

Colleges face a second challenge known as the yield. Federal data shows the yield at public institutions declined from 32 percent in 2014 to 22 percent in 2024. At private, nonprofit colleges, the yield fell from 24 percent to 18 percent over the same period. Students now apply to an average of more than seven schools apiece, making it difficult for enrollment managers to predict who will enroll.

To boost yields, schools must admit roughly five times the number of students they need. They then work to persuade admitted applicants to deposit their money. Johnnie Johnson, vice president for enrollment management at Washington College in Maryland, tells faculty that every student represents programmatic funding and raises.

Faculty engagement is not universal. At Washington College, some staff initially resisted the idea, stating they preferred to teach while administrators recruited. Johnson countered that enrollment numbers directly affect program stability. He noted that faculty are aware of colleagues at closed colleges or cut programs who did not want to be next.

Skidmore, which has 2,719 students, has seen its application numbers rise. Its acceptance rate dropped from 37 percent to 24 percent over the last decade. More than three-quarters of admitted students who visited the campus last year requested to sit in on a class or meet with faculty. The college recorded 300 such personal visits.

Becca Johnson, chair of the psychology department at Skidmore, says applicants find these meetings meaningful. One mother told her that a faculty contact was the first from outside the admissions office. The mother said the interaction was significant in her student's decision to enroll.