A national association of high school counselors and college admissions officers wants the federal government to stop providing student information to colleges that some institutions are using to disadvantage students who apply for admission and financial aid.
The National Association for College Admission Counseling is concerned about how some college admissions offices are using information that students provide to the federal government, which, unbeknownst to students, is passed on to all the colleges they are interested in. Most American students seeking financial aid fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. When they do, they are asked to submit the names of up to 10 colleges to which they are applying.
That list has turned out to be valuable to college admissions offices and private enrollment management consultants: They have discovered that the order in which students list institutions on the FAFSA corresponds strongly with students’ order of preference. Students may be much less interested in attending colleges that they put farther down on the list.
Now, some colleges use this "FAFSA position" when considering students’ applications for admission, which may affect decisions about admission, placement on a wait list or the size of a financial aid award.
But students are never warned about how colleges may use the information. And while colleges think students are listing the colleges in order of preference, that may not even be true.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/10/06/group-asks-federal-government-stop-giving-colleges-information-students-choices