Watch out, Common App.
The Coalition for Access and Affordability, an organization created to improve college access, announced on Monday a competitor to the popular college application.
The Coalition’s website states “a growing amount of research” indicates applicants with disadvantaged backgrounds frequently struggle to complete the standard college application process effectively.
Kenyon is not among the 80 institutions that will accept the new application. All the Ivy League schools, as well as Oberlin College and Swarthmore College, are members.
President Sean Decatur said the College chose a “wait-and-see approach,” regarding the new platform.
The offering, according to Inside Higher Ed, has several new components. There is a portfolio portion, in which students may answer questions about their educational goals starting in ninth grade. The application itself aims to streamline questions to line up with work students have completed in class, while allowing students to enter their personal information only once. Lastly, college applicants will now be able to share their applications online with anyone, including college admissions officers, before submission.
Diane Anci, vice president of enrollment and dean of admissions, said the Coalition is something to watch with “considerable interest.” She noted how navigating a sophisticated technological platform may present challenges for guidance counselors who are “already feeling quite stretched.”
At this point, it is unclear whether the Coalition app will be the only type accepted by member schools. The Coalition does allow more members to join. The new application opens for the class of 2020 in the summer of 2016.