Traditionally, top colleges recruit high school seniors; they allow only a few transfers to come in junior year. The idea is to create an educational experience unique to the setting, and to turn out loyal alumni. All that is changing.

Well-known private colleges and selective public schools have recently announced they plan to accommodate more community college transfer students. Collectively this will cost them about 20 million dollars, according to a San Francisco Examiner piece by Justin Pope. It's hard to see why the elite institutions are getting together this way. Maybe it's just the demographics: 6.5 million people attend community colleges. Maybe they don't want a possible young Einstein to turn away without trying them.

The University of Michigan and the University of North Carolina are on board with this change. The University of California system already claims that about twenty percent of its student body comes in by transfer. See the UC admission transfer page.

Private institutions like Amherst, Cornell, Mount Holyoke, the University of Southern California, Harvard, MIT, and Stanford are changing as well. This newsletter reported on Harvard's new stance in the March issue. Now Carrie Sturrock reports in the San Francisco Chronicle that Stanford applicants from families with incomes between $45,000 and $60,000 will see their family's contribution halved. The change will go into effect in September for all current students, as well as the incoming class. Eligible students will contribute toward their tuition through summer earnings, work during school, and student loans.

The admissions process, of course, remains the same: overall, about ten percent of the people who apply will be admitted. Admission means that their Grade Point Average (GPA), Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), community service record, and college admissions essay are all above and beyond merely average or interesting. The changes in policy mean only that the students who put together a college-admissions packet with all four components in place are certain now to have a shot at the gold.