The college admissions process is becoming less intimidating as institutions compete for a shrinking pool of students. Colleges are waiving application fees, offering additional financial aid tied to campus visits and, in some states, admitting students who have not formally applied.
A small but growing number of colleges are also asking faculty to participate directly in recruitment. At Skidmore College, professors open classrooms and laboratories to prospective and admitted students. Ohio Northern University has faculty members meet with visiting applicants, while Washington College in Maryland arranges faculty meetings during the admissions season and at open houses.
The shift reflects mounting pressure on enrollment offices. A survey by Niche found that two-thirds of admissions leaders had difficulty meeting enrollment targets in at least one of the previous two years, and 97% expected competition to increase.
The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education projects that the number of traditional-age freshmen nationwide will fall by 13% over the next 15 years. At the same time, the share of high school graduates continuing to college declined from 70% in 2016 to 63% in 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
For students, admission is generally more accessible than public perceptions suggest. Nearly eight in 10 first-year applicants are accepted by public colleges and universities, while about seven in 10 are accepted by private institutions, according to the National Association for College Admission Counseling. Those figures have risen from 68% and 65%, respectively, roughly a decade ago.
Angel Pérez, NACAC’s chief executive, said many people remain focused on highly selective institutions such as Caltech, Harvard, Princeton and Stanford, which accept about one in 25 applicants. NACAC data shows that only 33 colleges and universities admit 10% or fewer of their undergraduate applicants.
Colleges are also dealing with falling enrollment yields, the proportion of admitted students who ultimately enroll. Students using the Common Application now apply to an average of more than seven schools, making it harder for institutions to predict how many admitted applicants will accept their offers. Federal data shows average yield fell from 32% to 22% at public institutions and from 24% to 18% at private nonprofit colleges between 2014 and 2024.
As a result, colleges may need to admit roughly five times as many students as they ultimately need to enroll. Campus visits and personal contact have consequently become important tools for encouraging admitted students to commit.
Some faculty members initially resist taking on recruiting responsibilities, administrators said. At Washington College, enrollment officials have argued that declining student numbers can affect program funding, salaries and even the survival of academic programs. Leaders at several institutions say that every interaction with a prospective student now matters.
Skidmore has been less affected than many small private colleges. Its applications have increased, while its acceptance rate has fallen from 37% a decade ago to 24% today. The college says more than three-quarters of admitted students who made certain types of campus visits last year asked to attend a class or meet with a faculty member, resulting in about 300 individual visits.
Although Skidmore does not yet have data showing whether those visits lead directly to applications or enrollment, faculty members say families have told them that personal contact influenced their decisions.
Sources: NPR News.