ABOUT EARLY COLLEGE ADMISSIONS

(T)he use of (a) college admissions practice that favors wealthy students has been growing: early decision. About 200 colleges, which tend to be private and highly selective, offer students a chance to file early applications and get a decision from the school by mid-December . ... In exchange, students commit when they apply to attending that school if accepted.

This process offers a better chance of being admitted. In schools with low admission rates, the difference can be significant. For example, at the University of Pennsylvania, the regular acceptance rate is 5%. It’s more than triple that for those applying through early decision, according to the admissions consulting company College Transitions . ...

(C)olleges are the big beneficiaries of this scheme. It allows them to have a certain number of first-year spots filled. That means less guesswork about how many students to accept to reach a target enrollment (colleges offer admission to more students than needed to fill a class because some accepted students will pick another school) . ...

No wonder the use of early decision has increased . ... Why should we care? Everybody wins, right?

Not quite. Low-income and middle-class students who rely on generous financial aid to attend college are less able to take advantage of early decision, because they have less wiggle room on financial aid . ...

Despite that economic disparity, early decision is expanding even beyond its original concept. A growing number of colleges are offering Early Decision 2, in which students apply during the regular application period, but nonetheless commit to accepting an offer from that college if accepted . ...

(Colleges) should reconsider how many students are admitted via these early commitments, offer financial aid that fully meets the need for those accepted and question the practice altogether when an applicant pool is disproportionately well-off.