Because Carleton has operated without an application fee for so long, Webster says it’s difficult for it to track how much of an impact it has on its applicant pool. In recent years, the school has received an annual 6,500 to 7,000 undergraduate applications. “We use that to assemble some mighty impressive cohorts of approximately 525 [students],” he says. “Something must be working!”
Mark Sklarow, CEO of the Fairfax, Va.-based Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA), concurs students benefit when colleges encourage them to apply via whatever platform is best for them. But he fears that as the application platforms proliferate, schools will select different ones for students to apply through. “That creates more confusion, more work and more anxiety for students,” he says, recalling the days when every school accepted only its own application.
To avoid incurring unnecessary application fees, students can focus on schools that would be a good match, with the help of an independent educational consultant, he says, “rather than just casting a wide net.”