Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Will Sweeping Changes to College Admissions Help or Hurt Your Child?



This depends upon who you are and where you live. If you’re an alumni or a donor living in California (this is where the changes are starting), your child will no longer be given preferential treatment in college admissions. If you aren’t, then the proposed changes may help your child. They also make learning the sixteen defining habits of successful scholarship winners even more important than before. (To learn about these habits, click on the image of Free College, to the right of this post.) Although these modifications are proposed in California, they're likely to spread.

State colleges and universities in California don't presently award legacy or donor admissions to students, but some private institutions in the state do. The state legislature is looking into removing Cal Grants from colleges who continue to do so. I’m sure there will be a fight in the courts over this, so be aware everything about admissions is in flux. You can no longer count on your children being given preferential treatment.

They're also considering eliminating standardized testing such as the SAT and ACT from the admissions process. This will make other considerations, such as which courses are taken, their difficulty level, and the overall GPA even more significant. So if you aren’t involved in your high school student’s course selection already, you’ll want to look into them in the future. It would also be wise to read progress reports and report cards before signing them.

Another development is the regulation of admissions consultants. In the past, anyone could open an office, and do whatever they wanted to help parents place their children in the colleges of their choice. This led to the recent admissions scandal, and perhaps to people going to jail. Students who were implicated in the fraud will be inspected on a case by case basis. Those already enrolled may be expelled. Some who applied, but have not yet been admitted, have already had their applications rejected.

Many of the fraudulent admissions involved coaches. Some parents faked a history of participation in sports, and their children were admitted. In the future, it’s proposed that any student awarded “special admissions” for athletic, musical or other talent, be approved by an oversight committee of at least three staff members. This should level the playing field for students with exceptional talents.

It’s hard enough going through school, knowing you’ll need a college education in order to enter the field of your choice, without less qualified students sneaking in front of you. The proposed changes should eliminate this. However, if students who have been given preferential treatment in the past no longer have these benefits, parents will find other ways to help them. They’ll hire tutors to make sure their grades are high. They’ll give them private lessons in music or sports, all in order to give them a leg up in entering the college of their choice.  

In order to compete, learn what honest families do that results in both college acceptance and lots of scholarships. After doing extensive research, I found sixteen defining habits of graduates who won the most scholarship money for college. They’re in my book, Free College. Click on the image of the book cover in the upper right hand corner of this page to be taken to my book on Amazon. Do what other people don’t, and your children won’t have to worry about college admissions or scholarships. Both will come to them without cheating.


You are reading from the blog, RoadtoFreeCollege.com, where we empower families with knowledge to navigate the path to higher education without the burden of excessive loans.

 

For more information, you’ll want my book, Free College, CLICK HERE. It teaches families how to help their kids become more successful in school, college, and life.


As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no cost to you.


Photo Credit: Google Images

No comments:

Post a Comment