A New Way to Apply to College Simplifies the Process, Promotes Equity & Access
Coalition schools launch a new application process, via a partnership with Scoir and Technolutions
August 1, 2022
A new way to apply to college launches today – one that’s built into the tools that many students and counselors already use every day. Born out of a recently announced partnership between the Coalition for College, Scoir and Technolutions – organizations that share a mission to expand college access and improve student outcomes – this simplified application process aims to reduce barriers to college, especially for students from underserved communities.
Since 2016, the Coalition has provided a consortium application, allowing students to use one platform to apply to Coalition schools, which share higher than average graduation rates and lower than average debt load and loan-default rates. To date, the Coalition has served more than one million students via its application, as well as through free events and advice that help students through the admissions process.
With today’s launch, the Coalition further simplifies its application process, integrating it within Scoir, a college guidance management platform that’s free for all students and discounted for high schools based on the percentage of students receiving free or reduced lunch.
Rather than creating a stand-alone Coalition account, where students are required to re-enter personal information that’s likely been captured within other software they’ve used for college planning, students can apply to Coalition schools on Scoir, saving time and benefitting from additional tools as they, and their families, navigate college admissions.
“The Coalition aims to inspire more students to see college in their future and to dismantle the barriers that stand in their way,” says Stacey Kostell, CEO of the Coalition for College. “Continuing to improve the process of applying to college, especially with a goal of better serving students from communities that are marginalized and underrepresented in higher education, is the work that unites our member schools, and we’re thrilled to partner with Scoir and Technolutions on these shared goals.”
This new application method is exclusively available to members of the Coalition for College, a diverse group of public and private institutions across the country. About two-thirds of these schools will accept this new application experience this year, including Yale, Johns Hopkins, the University of Delaware, Pomona College, and the University of South Carolina, among many others.
Students can create a free Scoir account to begin working on applications and take advantage of the many other resources provided on the platform, like personalized college search and discovery. All of these benefits are provided while keeping students’ personally identifiable information secure.
“Since we started Scoir, we’ve been working to find ways to make it easier for students to apply to college, and developing an application was one strategy we were exploring,” says Gerry McCrory, CEO and founder of Scoir. “But in our research, one thing became clear: the world didn’t need another application. It needed a better process. We’re so excited to partner with the Coalition, as well as Technolutions, to have created just that: a simplified process that will help students manage more of their college journey in one place.”
To enable this streamlined approach, Scoir has developed an expanded integration with Technolutions, whose enrollment management platform, Slate, is the backbone of admission operations for more than 1,500 institutions across the country. This integration between Slate and Scoir allows for easy transmission of applications and related materials to colleges, as well as the ability for students to see application status information within Scoir.
"When you look at barriers to college access," says Alexander Clark, CEO and founder of Technolutions, "a lot of times the question is: 'How can you move the process closer to where it's happening?' That may mean, instead of students coming to you, you need to come to them. It may mean finding the systems they're operating within and meeting them right there so that you're creating a simpler process, and one that's, quite frankly, more enjoyable.”
A Financial Fit for Students, Families, Communities
Because this application method is available exclusively to Coalition member schools and Coalition schools meet eligibility criteria related to graduating students on time and with low or no debt, students who apply on Scoir can feel confident that they’re applying to schools that provide responsible financial aid and an excellent return on investment. Altogether, Coalition schools outperform the national average for graduation rates by 17%; for Pell-eligible students, that figure rises to 27% and goes as high as 33% for underrepresented students.
Coalition schools also share a commitment to providing application fee waivers to eligible students who need only check a box to indicate they qualify. Data from the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) shows that 81% of students apply to three or more schools, and 36% apply to seven or more. With the average application fee costing $50, these fees can add up quickly and be prohibitively expensive for students and families. Using the Coalition fee waiver on Scoir, students can learn about the availability of fee waivers as early as 9th grade and use this information when building a college list.
Parents and guardians can be invited to connect with their student on Scoir, where they can search for schools based on the likely cost to attend – not just sticker price – for those with similar financial traits. Using Scoir’s collaboration tools, they can then suggest schools for their student to explore and potentially add to their college list.
More support for the supporters
In addition to providing its college-planning tools for free to students, Scoir will give free access to its tools to an important group of student supporters: those who work for community-based organizations (CBOs) that provide college advising services. According to NACAC, nearly one in five students do not have access to a school-based counselor. For these 8 million students, CBOs can be key to bridging the college advising gap.
The Coalition maintains a vetted list of these organizations to help its member schools connect with these non-profits and offer additional support for the students they serve. Soon, these CBOs will be offered access to use Scoir to more easily advise and collaborate with their students on the college search and application process.
“At the Coalition, we believe in the power of collaboration,” says Elena Hicks, chair of the Coalition’s Board of Directors and dean of admissions and executive director of enrollment services at Southern Methodist University. “This new application process is the latest example of how we work across Coalition schools, as well as with our partner organizations, to identify and accelerate solutions that can bridge equity gaps and help more students access the transformative power of higher education.”