Colleges until now focused on salvaging spring semester from effects of a pandemic have turned a wary eye to fall, extending enrollment decision deadlines, adjusting fees and other requirements as the admissions market suddenly grows more volatile nationally.
The latest example came Thursday from the University of Pittsburgh.
Pitt announced that its regional campuses in Bradford, Greensburg, Johnstown and Titusville will be ACT and SAT test-optional for the Fall 2020 admissions cycle, effective immediately.
It called the move a pilot program and referenced upheaval facing students over COVID-19, including the shuttering of K-12 schools in Pennsylvania that Gov. Tom Wolf announced Thursday will last through the remainder of the academic year.
College searches by high school students often are supported by in-school counseling, and experts have expressed concern in recent weeks about what school closures might mean for students with college aspirations, in particular those from lower-income households with fewer search resources.
“The University of Pittsburgh is committed to helping students and families adjust to the realities of these challenging times and will continue to review and adjust policies accordingly,” said Joseph McCarthy, vice provost for undergraduate studies.
Pitt officials said that as a result, students applying for admission to any of the regional campuses for Fall 2020 will have the option to include or not include their SAT or ACT scores as part of their application materials.
Need-based aid programs, including Pitt Success Pell Match Program, “will be available to all qualifying students, irrespective of the availability of SAT or ACT test scores.” However, the announcement continued, the SAT and ACT scores can still factor into merit-based scholarship eligibility decisions.
The statement from Pitt Thursday did not indicate how applications, deposits and other indicators of enrollment are doing at the branch campuses versus this time a year ago, and officials could not immediately be reached. Pitt said the pilot does not apply to the main Oakland campus, traditionally more selective, which accounts for about 29,000 of Pitt’s 34,000 students.
In recent days, various schools — public and private — in Pennsylvania and beyond have announced easing of deadlines and other admission requirements, including at least some of Pennsylvania’s 14 state-owned universities.
Clarion University, for one, extended by a month its deadline for priority admission and for scholarship consideration until June 1, and it has also gone to a test-optional policy and now conducts admission visitations by Zoom video conferencing, said David Dollins, vice president for enrollment management.
A note sent Thursday to high school seniors and potential new students by Shippensburg University said the school had reduced its enrollment deposit to $50.
“Additionally, if you wish to live on campus in the fall, we've completely WAIVED our $200 housing deposit, once you complete the housing agreement,’’ the email stated. “We recognize that many families are struggling with this unexpected shock to our economy and want to help any way we can.
“This offer is only good until April 17, so move quickly!”
Both Clarion and Shippensburg are members of the State System of Higher Education, whose 14 state-owned universities with 96,000 students also include California, Edinboro, Indiana and Slippery Rock universities in Western Pennsylvania.
Some other moves include a two-month scholarship deadline extension to July 1 at Cal U and IUP’s decision to extend Decision Day by a month to June 1.
Uncertainty about who will show up on campuses this fall, and in what numbers, is perplexing not just public institutions but private ones, too.
Highly selective colleges “will see very little impact on enrollment, but most colleges will experience some decline in enrollment,” predicted Richard Ekman, president of the Council of Independent Colleges in Washington D.C. “The open question is how much.”
A parent suddenly out of work, worries about how far from home to enroll in a pandemic and even difficulty getting grade records from high schools ordered closed are complications students suddenly face at a time when the admissions season is winding up, said Jayne Caflin Fonash, president of the National Association for College Admission Counseling.
Given that uncertainty, NACAC has assembled an admission resource for prospective students showing modifications to admissions policies and practices, based on submissions from 900-plus colleges and universities nationally, including Pennsylvania institutions.
Entries include deposit and decision deadlines, admission events and more.
A second resource created by the Arlington, Va.-based association offers advice to high school seniors and other prospective college students at a time when many K-12 schools have shut down to slow the virus’ spread.
Despite Thursday’s announcement by Pitt, officials there said specific majors at Bradford, Greensburg and Johnstown may still require the submission of a score.
“All applicants to the University of Pittsburgh already receive a comprehensive, individual review,” said Mr. McCarthy. “In the absence of a test score, the committee will determine admissibility by relying more heavily on factors such as the strength of a student's academic coursework, their grade trends and senior year curriculum choices, their performance in advanced courses (i.e. honors, Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, post-secondary coursework), short answer/essay questions, extracurricular activities, and anything else that a student chooses to submit in order to demonstrate their academic potential.”
For years, a debate has been raged nationally over the value and fairness of standardized testing as a gateway to college. Experts have said the COVID-related admissions concerns could raise the stakes in the debate.
The pandemic has accelerated growth in the number of schools either scrapping test requirements or making them optional, said Bob Schaeffer, interim executive director of Fair Test: The National Center for Fair and Open testing, an opponent of the tests.
“In some cases, colleges and universities which had been actively considering adopting test optional policies accelerated the decision in light of the pandemic,” he said, citing as examples Case Western Reserve, Tufts and University of Oregon system.
“Other schools indicated that their actions were primarily COVID-related.”He said some are short-term "pilot programs" for one to three years, among them Haverford in eastern Pennsylvania.
Bill Schackner: bschackner@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1977 and on Twitter: @Bschackner
First Published: April 9, 2020, 6:10 p.m.
