Police officers stand nearby during a rally against campus antisemitism at George Washington University on May 2, 2024 in Washington, DC. A pro-Palestinian rally was also held at the school that day.
This year's college admissions cycle is wrapping up, and it's been eventful.
Before high school seniors even started submitting applications in the fall, several factors were poised to shake up the admissions season.
The Supreme Court ended affirmative action in the summer of 2022, changing the way applicants and schools were able to consider race in admissions. Some schools went back to requiring standardized testing for admissions after pausing since the pandemic. And updates to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid that rolled out for this admissions cycle have been in the works since at least 2019.
Separately, college students and administrators' responses to the Israel-Hamas war has brought even greater scrutiny to higher education institutions.
College presidents, including those from Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania, testified before Congress last fall regarding their response to student safety and activism during the conflict. And protests on campuses nationwide in recent weeks have led to canceled commencement ceremonies at Columbia University and the University of Southern California.
All of this has led to a "bonkers" school year for students applying and committing to colleges, as well as the counselors supporting them, Jeffrey Durso Finley and Holly Burks Becker, co-directors of college counseling at The Lawrenceville School, a private high school in New Jersey, told CNBC Make It in an email.
"[This year] made counseling during COVID seem easy!" they said.
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But the students and their support teams persisted. And despite issues like the FAFSA delays, some colleges still wanted incoming students to make a decision — and a deposit — by May 1.
Durso Finley and Burks Becker shared insights from what they've seen working with students and families throughout this unusual school year.
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High schoolers have eyes on college campus unrest
Colleges — particularly elite institutions like Columbia and Harvard — have had a tumultuous year. They've received increased scrutiny from the general public, media and government in how they handled students' responses to the Israel-Hamas war.
"[High school] students are paying attention, they are curious and trying to understand the complexities that underlie the situations taking place on college campuses, so it's certainly on their minds," Durso Finley and Burks Becker said.
But current events may not necessarily sway a student away from their initial decision to attend a certain college, they added. There are, as always, a number of financial, academic and personal factors that play into a student's college decision and typically outweigh more circumstantial factors like the protests.
"While they certainly care about what's happening, it's rare that the events would overwhelm the rationale for their decision-making," the counselors said.
FAFSA delays have been a 'tragedy for some'
Since the financial obligation is a huge aspect of many students' college decisions, this year's FAFSA debacle has been "an enormously impactful issue for many students and a true tragedy for some," Durso Finley and Burks Becker said.
In a typical year, the FAFSA opens on Oct. 1. From then until the following summer, families are able to submit the form to the college their student wants to attend and receive a financial aid package detailing the cost of their student's first year if they are accepted.
In 2023, the updated FAFSA didn't open until Dec. 31, and many families still struggled to access it through much of January. Some families were even unable to fill out a form until March if they didn't have a Social Security number.
"The FAFSA problems disproportionately impact students and families who are lower income, who could be considering a two-year college route to contain college costs and a host of other considerations that are critical for a huge part of the college-bound population," the counselors said.
Financial aid and admissions staffers have truly stepped up to the plate, though, in trying to keep students calm and informed throughout the process, they said. It's unfortunate that so many families were impacted by the delays, but that also meant a lot of applicants were in the same boat waiting for the Department of Education to give updates and fix the issues.
"We've seen financial aid professionals and admission officers acting well over the line and trying to be helpful to financial aid applicants," the counselors said. "They are swimming against the tide, but they are doing everything they can to be helpful in an unprecedented situation."
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