If you want to go to college in the fall, it’s not too late to make it happen.
Around 400 colleges and universities are still accepting applications for fall 2018, according to the College Openings Update compiled by the National Association for College Admission Counseling.
The annual list shows which of the organization’s member institutions still have space for incoming freshmen and transfer students, even though the May 1 national college decision deadline is past. It also contains information on whether schools still have financial aid and housing resources available.
“Students and families should know that admission is an ongoing process for many institutions,” said Joyce Smith, CEO of NACAC, in a statement.
[Consider when applying late to college makes sense.]
The list will be available online through July 2, though it will likely change between now and then, as new institutions join or schools update their information as their spaces begin to fill up.
As of May 3, the bulk of the schools with openings enrolled fewer than 5,000 undergrads. However, there were 35 schools on the list with undergraduate student bodies of 20,000 or more, like Oklahoma State University and the University of South Florida.
There are both public and private schools on the list. Most of the institutions are located in the U.S., though there are some located abroad as well.
Some colleges may still have openings because they were off in their prediction of how many students would accept their offers of admission, Smith said. Other schools are on the list because they have a rolling admissions policy. Many schools with rolling admissions don’t have a hard deadline for when they will stop taking applications — they continue accepting them until the incoming class is filled.
One rolling admissions school on the NACAC list is Missouri State University, which is still accepting both freshmen and transfer applications.
At Missouri State, the application process for students applying after May 1 is the same as for those students who applied earlier in the year, says Nechell Bonds, director of admissions at the school. But other colleges may approach this differently, she adds.
If students have questions about how to navigate a college’s application process, they can reach out to the admissions office.
[Explore a complete guide to the college application process.]
Affordability is a concern for many college-bound students and their families, and late applicants may have fewer institutional financial aid resources available to them. Schools tend to award their scholarships and other types of aid earlier in the year, so funds may not be available for students applying in the late spring and summer, Bonds says.
As of May 3, around a dozen schools on the list indicated that they are no longer offering financial aid.
Bonds says late applicants can explore other options, such as community-based scholarships. “I really encourage them to look for many different sources,” she says. “Don’t leave any stones unturned.”
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Last-Minute College Options for Fall 2018 originally appeared on usnews.com
