What’s New
The Common Application significantly increased the number of low-income and underrepresented minority students receiving private scholarships during the 2023-24 admissions cycle by enhancing outreach to eligible applicants on its platform, according to a new report that the organization released Thursday.
The Common Application, which runs the shared college application used by more than 1,000 institutions worldwide, has been experimenting with strategies for connecting underrepresented students to noninstitutional scholarships that can help them pay for college. The organization’s latest findings suggest that such students are more likely to seek out financial-aid resources if they hear about them in more than one place — and if they’re told in advance that they qualify.
The Details
First, let’s rewind a bit. During the 2022-23 admissions cycle, the Common App partnered with the nonprofit Scholarship America to answer some key questions. To what extent would a series of targeted emails sent from the Common App to underrepresented minority students prompt them to apply for scholarships they otherwise would not have? And how would such outreach affect the diversity of scholarship applicants and recipients?
The answers seemed encouraging. In July, the Common App released a report describing how students who had received the emails were more than twice as likely as their peers with similar qualifications to apply for the Equitable Excellence Scholarship, provided by Equitable, a financial-services company. Students selected for the outreach were more likely to receive the scholarship than other students who applied. And the email campaign increased the diversity of the applicant and recipient pools, bringing in 12 percent more first-generation and 13 percent more underrepresented minority students. Those who received the messages pulled in $350,000 more in scholarships than recipients in the group that did not.
The 2023-24 cycle brought a new wrinkle: The Common App added notifications about scholarships to selected applicants’ Common App profiles, enabling them to see information about each of up to four private scholarships they were eligible for, based on the information they had entered. Later, researchers examined the behavior of students in three groups: those who had received in-app notifications and emails; those who had received only emails; and those who had received no outreach.
The one-two punch proved most effective. Just over 8 percent of students who had received both kinds of communications applied for at least one scholarship, compared with 5 percent of those who received only emails and 3.5 percent of those who received no outreach.
“Students were more likely to remember the communications when they were receiving them through multiple channels, particularly through the app, where it brings a stronger sense of legitimacy,” said Meagan Taylor, principal product manager for affordability initiatives at the Common Application. “They felt that the information was more valid when they saw it in multiple places.”
Collectively, the four participating scholarship providers saw an 18-percent rise in first-generation and underrepresented minority students in their applicant pools. Those who received in-app notifications and emails were five times as likely as those who had received neither to get a scholarship.
The outreach drove more than $4.8 million in scholarship funds over four years, according to the Common App’s report. Of more than 89,000 students who received information about them, 750 got at least one scholarship, the organization told The Chronicle. The median award amount was $1,000. About 130 students will receive more than $40,000 in total, assuming their scholarships are renewed for four years. And among all students receiving scholarships, the average value over four years is approximately $8,600.
The Backdrop
The Common Apps experiments are one response to what college-access experts have long seen as a problem: Lower-income students are less likely than wealthier ones to get private scholarships, according to federal data cited by Hechinger Report. White students are more likely than Black or Latino students to get them.
“The notion of a treasure hunt comes to mind,” Taylor said. “On the scholarship-provider side, it’s a treasure hunt to try to find more underrepresented students to apply. And on the students’ side, it’s a treasure hunt to go through that burdensome process and figure out what opportunities are out there, while wondering, ‘Am I eligible? Do I feel that if I invest the time, it will actually pay off for me?’”
The Common App’s research confirmed that low-income, first-generation, and underrepresented minority students often underestimate their chances of getting private scholarships. “They would look at the eligibility criteria and say, ‘Well, I don’t know that I’m qualified for that,’” Taylor said. “We wanted to empower students and make them feel confident. We’re saying, ‘You don’t have to do the guess work — we’re doing that work for you by identifying you as a competitive candidate.’”
One key lesson from the Common Apps experiments: Diversifying an applicant pool doesn’t necessarily mean that the diversity of a scholarship’s recipients will increase. Early on, the Common App found that students it had referred to the Equitable Excellence Scholarship were less likely than other students to receive it. After Equitable adjusted its selection rubric to put greater emphasis on financial need, students who received outreach from Common App were more likely than other students to get the scholarship.
What to Watch For
The Common App plans to continue its experiment during the 2024-25 admissions cycle. Previously, its outreach targeted students who are underrepresented minorities and who qualify for Common App fee waivers. This time around, Taylor said, the outreach will focus on first-generation and low-income students.
The Common App will also partner with the National Scholarship Providers Association, which maintains a database with information on more than 20,000 private scholarships. That will enable all students using the platform to get information on scholarships they qualify for.
“We’re only presenting them with scholarship opportunities that we know, based on the data that they’ve entered, that they’re eligible for,” Taylor said. “It’s meant to be a very actionable list that’s highly targeted to that student, with between three to 20 scholarship opportunities. So, it’s not like a miles-long list.”
