Commonly held policies in recruitment, demonstrated interest, early decision, legacy admission, standardized testing, Criminal Justice Information (CJI), transfer pathways, and need-based financial aid practices can either increase or limit access to post-secondary education.
That’s the findings from a two-year study of equity in recruitment, admissions and enrollment practices released by the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP).
IHEP hopes that the study and its recommendations “could be the North Star” for colleges seeking to intentionally center equity in enrollment, allowing them to finally “open the door to all,” said Piper Hendricks, IHEP’s director of communications and external affairs.
“We did a deep review admissions policies and practices using data from the common data set that institutions report. These policies mean that students from low income communities, people of color, or even rural areas face additional barriers,” said Mamie Voight, interim president of IHEP.
IHEP also reached out to conduct personal interviews with ten institutions and representatives from four peer organizations. Voight noted that, during these conversations, “there seemed to be a growing recognition of the inequitable impact of these policies.”
COVID-19 showed that higher education “can change, and change quickly when they need to,” said Voight, who noted that expected revenue often drives many institutional policies, including recruitment.
“As budgets are tighter and become more reliant on enrollment, it drives [admissions departments] to make difficult decisions,” she added. “Some of those compounding factors are state budgets and pressure for institutions to perform well in rankings.”
