What’s New
The number of financially independent students using the Common Application to apply to colleges more than doubled between 2016-17 and 2023-24, according to a new report released on Monday. The first-of-its-kind findings from the Common App shed light on the backgrounds, academic records, application patterns, and enrollment outcomes of so-called nontraditional students, who now represent a majority of all college students in the United States.
The Details
The Common App analyzed the records of more than 45,000 independent students, focusing on four subgroups: domestic applicants over the age of 23, parents with dependent children, veterans and active-duty military personnel, and students not living with their parents, including orphans and emancipated minors.
Application volume within each subgroup more than doubled over the eight admissions cycles. Applications from students over 23 as of December 31 of the application year, for instance, increased by 223 percent. (During the same time period, applications among all domestic first-year applicants increased by 55.3 percent.)
Independent students were more likely than dependent students to live in a ZIP code with household incomes below the national median, identify as a first-generation student, and claim eligibility for a Common App fee waiver. Students paying their own way were more likely to have lower high-school grade-point averages, apply to colleges closer to home, and submit applications to fewer institutions.
Independent students submitted a greater proportion of their applications to colleges in their home states than other students did. Applicants in each subgroup submitted between 65.1 and 71.1 percent of their applications to in-state institutions, compared with 53.9 percent among dependent students during the same period. Independent students were more likely to apply to less-selective colleges.
Applicants in each subgroup of independent students enrolled at four-year colleges at lower rates than other students in the fall of 2017. And they had significantly lower rates of bachelor’s-degree completion by 2022-23. Those differences were greater than the comparable gaps between first-generation applicants and other applicants.
It’s important to note that the increase in independent students using the Common App reflects, in part, the continuing growth of the organization’s membership, which now totals more than 1,100 colleges and includes a much more diverse range of institutions than it once did.
All told, independent students using the Common App made up a small percentage — 3.6 percent — of all the platform’s domestic users in 2023-24. But that population, up from 2.5 percent in 2016-17, the report says, “is growing rapidly both in absolute and relative terms.”
The Backdrop
Students paying their own way often must navigate complex admissions and financial-aid processes on their own, without the support systems that high-school seniors rely on when applying to college. And they tend to have day-to-day struggles that differ from those of traditional-age students who are supported by their parents.
Independent students, the Common App suggests, might benefit from existing supports for first-generation and low-income students, including college-search and application counseling, as well as help navigating the enrollment-intake process and completing the federal-aid application. Moreover, lower-income parents might need help securing child care, the report says, and students with Post-9/11 G.I. Bill benefits might need help “maximizing the benefits and overcoming hurdles in using them.”
The Stakes
Understanding independent students’ challenges is a growing concern for many colleges, especially those confronting demographic shifts and a downturn in traditional-age applicants.
“Independent students account for a substantial share of enrolled students in higher education,” the report says, “and have unique needs that must be met if they will have a clear path to degrees and success after college.”
