The Oswego State admissions office unveiled a new policy to allow incoming freshmen to be informed of their acceptance earlier than before.
Previously, Oswego State participated in the early decision program, which allowed students to know of their acceptance earlier, but applicants that applied under early decision and were accepted were committed to attending Oswego State.
Regular applications for the upcoming fall semester are due Jan. 15 and decisions are sent out on a weekly basis after that.
According to the Oswego State website, the new early action program allows prospective students to know of their acceptance by mid-December, without having to commit to Oswego.
Jerome Oberst, senior associate director of admissions at Oswego State, said the change was mainly prompted by changes in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
In previous years, the FAFSA could be filled out starting Jan. 1 of the current year, using the tax information from the year before, according to the Federal Student Aid website. Since many families do not receive their W-2s until the end of January, students effectively could not fill out the FAFSA until February or March.
Oberst said FAFSA is now using a “prior-prior year” model. This means that students can fill out the FAFSA starting Oct. 1, using the family’s tax information from the two years prior, instead of having to wait for their W-2s to arrive.
“[The new FAFSA guidelines] could cause people to want to apply earlier, and get a decision earlier,” Oberst said. “We want to give an incentive to apply earlier, hence early action.”
Oberst said that since prospective students can fill out the FAFSA earlier and know how much financial aid they will receive from the federal government, “they want more information and we want to give them that.”
He also said that “our college is known for giving a lot of information” and that the goal of this program is to inform students of the full benefits of Oswego State as soon as possible.
Oswego State has seen 2,700 potential students apply under the early action program, versus roughly 300 per year under the previous early decision program, according to the Oswego State website.
According to the school’s website, some reasons high school seniors applied using the early action program were reduced stress about applying, more time to consider financial concerns, more time to apply for scholarships and knowing early on that they wanted to attend Oswego State.
The program also gives prospective students more time to tour the campus, check out the surrounding area and research what Oswego State offers before paying their deposit.
This program starts with the prospective class of 2021. Currently, the program is “geared towards freshmen admitted for the fall semester,” Oberst said.
There is no equivalent geared toward transfers, non-traditional students and those admitted for the spring semester, according to Oberst.
Oberst also said that the largest group of people admitted to Oswego State each year are freshmen admitted for the fall semester.
Prospective student Allyson Werner said she thinks every school should have the option of early action.
“Not everyone has the financial luxury to lock themselves into some $50K per year school without knowing how much the school will give them in scholarships and loans, along with the FAFSA loan,” Werner said.
Meghan Keaney, a prospective student, said early decision took the stress away.
“I found out about my acceptance sooner and was able to finalize my decision, giving me a lot more free time to enjoy my senior year of high school,” Keaney said. “Ultimately I think all students should attempt to apply early action because it takes a lot of the stress away when you know early on if you’ve been accepted to a certain college or not.”
