Schools have a lot to be worried about. They’re grappling with how to resume classes on campus and accommodate students in an era of social distancing. Administrators know the decisions they make may spur some students to take the academic year off, especially if colleges decide to hold classes entirely online.
Other considerations are coming into play, according to Fay. Parents, concerned about safety, may urge their high school senior to stay closer to home in case of another outbreak. Families hit with job losses may have no choice but to pick a less expensive school.
Universities may also see the flood of international students slow.
That’s one reason that Dartmouth College may look to the waitlist in late June, said Lee Coffin, the Ivy League school’s vice provost for enrollment and dean of admissions and financial aid. “If that cohort needs to take a postponement, that would certainly open the waitlist,” Coffin said.
In late April, Addie Anderson, an 18-year-old high school senior in Atlanta, was taking a walk when her mobile phone rang and a number from Davidson, North Carolina, popped up. She had been waitlisted by Davidson College a month earlier.
“I don’t think they would be calling me to say I didn’t get in,” said Anderson. She received an offer that day from the liberal arts college and will attend this fall.
Some of her classmates also got off waitlists at highly selective colleges, said Nancy Beane, a college counselor at the Westminster School in Atlanta for almost 30 years.
“We saw more activity on the waitlist this year than we usually see,” Beane said.
DeGreeff said the biggest beneficiaries of the waitlist thaw are those who can afford to pay full tuition.
“In terms of access and accessibility, that’s the heartbreaking part of it,” he said.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.