Colleges are facing an enrollment nightmare (2024)

Last Wednesday should have been a day of celebration: scores of students across the U.S. decided which university they would attend in the fall. But for some applicants, the day marked the end of a labyrinthine admissions process. The new, simplified Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form was a standout source of vexation for many families. When it finally launched—months behind the usual schedule—the form was plagued with technical glitches that locked some students out and prevented others from submitting it. “An ostensible process of simplification has made enrolling in college much harder,” Rose Horowitch writes.

The college-admissions process has long been broken, according to Jeffrey Selingo, who in 2022 called it a “poorly designed system in need of long-overdue improvements.” More students are flocking to super-selective schools, which have opaque admissions criteria and extraordinarily limited class sizes. The recent simplification of the FAFSA process was promising, but its botched rollout may have untold effects on the class of 2024’s college attendance. “A better way exists,” Selingo writes. But this year’s graduating class may not get to see it.

Today’s newsletter brings you stories about the current college-admissions debacle: