DIRECT ADMISSIONS, first implemented statewide in Idaho in 2015, is a relatively new process where students can be accepted into a college or university before having to submit an application. This typically happens in a student’s senior year of high school but some colleges are making offers even earlier, during a student’s junior year. 

The majority of the colleges and universities implementing direct admissions are not highly selective. Direct admissions is being deployed as both a strategy to mitigate declining enrollments and as a way to diversify an institution’s student body. With the use of direct admissions, Augsburg University in Minnesota has seen a 51 percent increase in minority students and a 48 percent increase in the number of males among admitted applicants.  

Direct admissions is one of several strategies  colleges and universities are using to make it easier for high school graduates to go to college. Applying to college can take a lot of money and time and requires students and families to figure out an increasingly complex college application process.

Direct admissions reduces barriers of time and money but it also reduces the psychological risk associated with fear of rejection and failure. The fear of rejection also discourages some people from applying. With direct admissions, this fear of rejection is removed because qualified students receive an acceptance letter from a college without needing to apply. For those who don’t see themselves as college-going, a letter congratulating them on being accepted can be a radical reframing of their future.  

With the practice of direct admissions, colleges proactively reach out to high school students with a letter of acceptance. There are many ways that this can be facilitated, some of which include the following: an arrangement between a single college and high school, in a centrally organized process in state education offices, or through a third-party vendor.

Students don’t typically know they have qualified until they receive an acceptance letter. Many community colleges have adopted the practice of directly admitting all students who successfully graduate from a given high school or district. Other colleges are more selective and may admit all graduates with grades or standardized testing scores above a minimum target. 

In some states, all students who graduate from a public high school are offered admission to a set of public colleges and universities. 

When an unexpected welcome letter arrives from a well-known college, it can help students who didn’t see college in their future begin to envision themselves as college students. The fact that there are many young people out there who are choosing to reject colleges before colleges reject them is a shame, particularly  when the overwhelming majority of institutions are either open or broad access. 

Evidence shows that direct admissions programs lead to more students admitted to colleges, and more students attending. When Idaho launched its statewide direct admissions program in 2015, overall college enrollment grew by about 8 percent. Clearly, this is a game changer for students and their families but it is also a potential boon to enrollment-strapped institutions, especially community colleges, many of which have experienced double-digit enrollment declines.

For many colleges that are nonselective, this is likely the future of college admissions. Direct admissions is a relatively inexpensive way for an individual college, or an entire state, to make college opportunities more clearly available to more students. As the implementation of direct admissions programs becomes more common, colleges—especially community colleges—will likely need additional staff  to handle the large-scale influx of admissions.

For institutions or states considering a move in this direction, business process, infrastructure, and technology solutions will be necessary to seamlessly connect secondary and postsecondary education databases. To meet these needs, some institutions are partnering with education management companies, such as Concourse, Sage Solutions, and the Common Application.  

As institutions gear up for increased enrollment, they will also need to reinforce student supports for successful persistence to degree completion. The American Council on Education’s Learner Success Laboratory, where I currently serve as an advisor, provides a comprehensive model outlining evidence-based tools and practices for persistence and completion.  

Here in Massachusetts, direct admission is already happening at the local level. In April 2022, Benjamin Franklin Cummings Institute of Technology piloted a direct admissions partnership with the Dearborn STEM Academy in Roxbury, a grade 6-12 Boston public school. What would it take for Massachusetts to pilot a statewide direct admissions program similar to those implemented in Idaho, Vermont, and Minnesota? 

Mary Churchill is a professor at BU Wheelock, where she is associate dean for strategic initiatives & community engagement and program director for the higher education administration program.