Recent changes made to the code of ethics of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) might impact students applying to college beginning with the fall 2020 admission season.
What is NACAC?
NACAC is the governing body of American colleges and universities—kind of like what the American Medical Association is to doctors or the American Bar Association to lawyers. Changes to its code of conduct and best practices could conceivably affect the admissions policies of all colleges and universities in the United States.
Why did NACAC change its code of ethics?
For the past two years, the Justice Department has been investigating NACAC for possible violations of anti-trust laws. Basically, DOJ contends that some of NACAC’s rules for conduct and best practices amounted to colleges colluding to take away student choices in the college admissions process. NACAC membership decided at the September 2019 national conference to just remove the portions of its code of ethics that the DOJ found objectionable (and possibly in violation of anti-trust laws) instead of fighting a long and expensive legal battle in the courts.
What changes did NACAC make to its code of ethics?
NACAC eliminated provisions that prohibited admissions offices from offering incentives to entice applicants to enroll Early Decision to their school. For instance, some colleges are now offering preferential dorm selection to students who apply to their school Early Decision. NACAC also eliminated the prohibition against recruiting students who have already accepted an offer of admission to another college or university.
What does this mean for college applicants and their families?
The biggest change is that applicants who have already accepted an offer of admission to one college might still be contacted by a different college trying to get the students to change their minds and come to the other college instead. In actuality, most selective and highly selective colleges, both public and private, will likely continue to follow the prohibition against "poaching" students who have been admitted to another college. But beginning with this application season, it's possible that less selective colleges might try to lure a superstar student who turned them down away from a college they've registered for, even after May 1st, the traditional deadline to file a student's Statement of Intent to Register (SIR).
Another possibility is that colleges that require a tuition deposit upon registration might increase the amount of their non-refundable deposit, usually submitted along with the SIR, in order to discourage students from enrolling at another college after they've submitted their SIR. It's obviously a lot more difficult to forfeit a $2,200 deposit compared to $1,100 (the amount, for instance, that Duke currently charges for its enrollment deposit).
We're all waiting to see what, if any, changes will happen with this change in the ethics rules.
Of course, as soon as we at Elite Prep hear of anything, we will share the information with you.
