Core Values

The application plans known as Early Action, Early Decision, Restrictive/Single Choice Early Action, Regular Decision, and Rolling Admission are widely used throughout the United States by students and counselors. By agreeing to use only these application plans, colleges provide clarity and consistency to a process that would otherwise be complex and confusing. Colleges may use various application forms or types, but they must adhere to the application plans outlined below.

Implementation:

Colleges in the United States agree they will use only the plans defined below and will abide by NACCAP’s Statement of Principles of Good Practice’s definitions and stipulations. They will not identify these plans by other names, nor will they use these plan names to refer to other aspects of the college admission process.

• Standard application plans
  • Regular Decision: Students submit their applications by a specified deadline and are notified of a decision within a clearly stated period of time.
  • Rolling Admission: Students apply at any time after a college begins accepting applications until a final closing date, which may be as late as the start of the term for which they are applying. Students are notified of a decision as their applications are completed and are reviewed.
    • Students who apply under the two standard application plans will not be required to accept the college’s offer of admission prior to May 1.
    • Colleges must disclose whether admission to their institution or to any of their programs or majors or selection for scholarships is on a first-come, first-served basis. In these cases, they must establish a priority deadline that assures students of full consideration, and that deadline must not be earlier than October 15.
• Early application plan Early Action (EA): Students apply by an earlier deadline to receive a decision in advance of the college’s Regular Decision notification date. Students will not be asked to accept the college’s offer of admission or submit a deposit prior to May 1.
• Restrictive early application plans
  • a. Early Decision (ED): Students commit to a first- choice college and, if admitted, agree to enroll and withdraw their other college applications. Colleges may offer ED I or II with different deadlines. This is the only application plan where students are required to accept a college’s offer of admission and submit a deposit prior to May 1.
    • Because it is a binding commitment, Early Decision can never be the only application option for admission. Regular Decision or Rolling Admission must always be an option as well, though colleges must alert students if space may be limited for students who choose those options. Colleges may adopt an Early Decision option that applies only to certain majors or programs (such as high-demand majors that have strict enrollment limits).
    • Colleges must notify candidates of the decision within a clearly stated period of time. A non-refundable deposit may be required before May 1.
    • Colleges will respond to an application for financial aid at or near the time of an offer of admission and before a deposit is required. Should a student who applies for financial aid not be offered an award that makes attendance possible, the student may request a release from the Early Decision commitment.
    • If a candidate is denied or deferred, an Early Decision application ceases to be binding.
    • While pursuing admission under an Early Decision plan, students may apply to other institutions under a Standard or Early Action Application plan, but may have only one Early Decision application pending at any time.
    • Colleges that have admission preferences for specific applicant populations, such as legacies (typically siblings or the offspring of alumni/ae) or recruited athletes, must state if those preferences are available only to Early Decision candidates.
  • Restrictive/Single Choice Early Action (REA): Students apply to a college of preference and receive a decision in advance of its Regular Decision notification date. Colleges place certain restrictions on applying under other early application plans. Students admitted under Restrictive Early Action are not obligated to accept the college’s offer of admission or to submit a deposit prior to May 1.
    • Colleges with Restrictive/Single Choice Early Action must not restrict students from applying under other colleges’ Regular or Rolling application plans.
    • Colleges must clearly articulate their restrictions in their Restrictive/Single Choice Early Action policies and agreements with students.
    • Colleges must not offer incentives for applying under a Restrictive/Single Choice Early Action plan.
    • If a candidate is denied or deferred admission, a Restrictive/Single Choice Early Action application ceases to be restrictive.

College choices should be informed, well-considered and free from coercion. Students require a reasonable amount of time to identify their college choices; complete applications for admission, financial aid and scholarships; and decide which offer of admission to accept.

Implementation in the United States
Colleges in the United States agree they will adhere to NACCAP’s Statement of Principles of Good Practice’s established dates and deadlines, as specified below, for the fall college admission cycle. They also agree not to establish policies or engage in practices whose effect is to circumvent these dates and deadlines. It is understood that programs where students are dually enrolled in both high school and college are a recognized exception to these deadlines.

While NACCAP’s Statement of Principles of Good Practice provides deadlines for the fall admission of first-time undergraduates, it is silent regarding applications for terms other than fall because the differences in academic calendars make this impractical. However, colleges are still obligated to state their deadlines for applications, financial aid, enrollment deposits and housing on websites and publications.

• Agreed upon dates and deadlines:
  • October 15: This date is the earliest deadline colleges may require first-year candidates to submit an application for fall admission. Members must give equal consideration to all applications received by this date.
  • Notification of admission: Members must not notify first-year candidates of their fall admission before the official completion of their junior year of secondary school or its equivalent.
  • Notification of financial aid: Colleges must notify accepted aid applicants of financial aid decisions at least two weeks before the institutional enrollment confirmation deadline, so long as the candidates have submitted all requested application forms and supporting materials by the designated priority deadline. Notification requirements for wait list procedures are a recognized exception.
  • May 1—National Candidates Reply Date: Colleges must permit first-year candidates for fall admission to choose among offers of admission and institutional financial aid and scholarships until May 1. Binding Early Decision plans and recipients of athletic scholarships are recognized exceptions.
  • August 1—Waitlisted candidates: This is the final date for notifying all candidates waitlisted for fall admission of the results of the wait list.
• Colleges must not establish policies, engage in practices, imply advantage or offer incentives whose effect is to circumvent NACCAP’s Statement of Principles of Good Practice’s established deadlines. Incentives are allowed when equally available to students who wait until the established deadlines. Colleges will not guarantee admission, specific college placement or institutional financial aid or scholarship awards prior to an application being submitted, except when preexisting criteria are stated in official publications.
• The May 1 National Candidates Reply Date:
  • Colleges must state the May 1 deadline explicitly in their offers of admission and clearly indicate whether deposits submitted prior to May 1 are refundable or non-refundable. Making a deposit refundable, however, still obligates a college to abide by the May 1 National Candidates Reply Date.
  • Colleges will honor their admission, scholarship and financial aid commitments to students and will not adversely alter their offers prior to May 1 for candidates who choose not to reply until that date. Nor will they state or imply that candidates might incur such a penalty by waiting until May 1 to submit an enrollment deposit.
  • The May 1 deadline also applies to any academic major, institutional scholarship or special program to which the candidate has been offered admission.
    Examples of special programs may include honors programs and dual-enrollment graduate or professional degree programs.
  • The May 1 deadline also applies to summer session enrollments if the student is a fall applicant who is required to enroll in summer classes as a condition of fall enrollment.
• Housing assignments and May 1:
  • Colleges must not use on-campus housing assignments to manipulate enrollment commitments prior to May 1. The only exception occurs when colleges are unable to house all their first-year students. In that case, they may assign housing on a first-come, first-served basis and alert candidates that on-campus housing is not guaranteed if they wait until May 1 to submit their housing deposits. In such situations, colleges must refund their enrollment and housing deposits if students cancel their admission by May 1.
• Deferred enrollment
  • Deferred enrollment, sometimes known as deferred admission or guaranteed transfer, means that the student is enrolling for a term that is later than the one for which the student originally applied for admission. There are two kinds of deferred enrollment:
    • Student-requested deferral: Colleges may grant these requests at their discretion and set an enrollment deposit deadline so long as it is
      not in advance of the deposit deadline for the term for which the student originally applied for admission. Colleges must clearly state their deferred enrollment policies and may prohibit deferred students from taking college-level classes elsewhere before they enroll.
    • College-initiated deferral: The college defers the student, declining to offer admission for the term for which the student applied, but offering admission or “guaranteed transfer admission” for a later term. Colleges may require students to complete college-level credits elsewhere before enrollment. Colleges must, however, allow students to choose whether to earn these credits as degree-seeking or non-degree-seeking candidates, except where they have a partnership agreement with another institution that requires enrollment

Implementation outside the United States

• While the admission cycle dates and deadlines are specific to institutions in the United States, members outside the U.S. must still comply with the remaining provisions, which include incentives before students have applied for admission, notification of admission and notification of financial aid.
• Post-secondary member institutions that meet the following criteria must also adhere to admission cycle dates and deadlines as described:
  • Post-secondary member institutions whose primary location is outside the U.S., but maintain a campus within the U.S., must adhere to admission cycle dates and deadlines for first-year applicants to their U.S.- based campuses.
  • Post-secondary member institutions whose primary location is within the U.S., but maintain a campus outside the U.S., must adhere to admission cycle dates and deadlines for first-year applicants to all campuses, including those located outside the U.S.

Wait lists give students who were not initially admitted another opportunity to be considered for admission, and they help colleges manage their enrollments. By placing a student on the wait list, a college does not initially offer or deny admission but extends to the candidate the possibility of admission no later than August 1, should space become available.

Since the number of students willing to accept an offer of admission from the wait list declines each day that colleges wait to extend an offer of admission, NACCAP’s Statement of Principles of Good Practice permits colleges to assess in advance a waitlisted candidate’s level of interest and financial need and to require a timely verbal commitment once an offer of admission has been extended.

Timely wait list offers and acceptances benefit other waitlisted students who want to know whether they will be admitted. They also allow other colleges to know which of their deposited students are canceling their admission to accept another college’s offer from the wait list.

Implementation

• When they initially offer students a place on a wait list, colleges must state what historically has been the range in numbers or percentages of students offered admission from the wait list and what has been the availability of housing and financial aid. Colleges may count only students who elected to remain on the wait list and may use however many years of data they deem reasonable.
• Colleges must not require a deposit or set a fee for remaining on a wait list.
• Colleges may ask students who have accepted a place on the wait list to indicate their level of interest, but must not ask them to rank order or identify their other college choices.
• Until May 1, students who are offered admission from a wait list must be given at least through May 1, or 48 hours, whichever is longer, to accept the offer. This applies both to informal offers (such as requests for verbal commitments) as well as to official offers of admission. It is understood that before a deposit or other final commitment is required, students must be notified of the availability of housing and those whose financial aid application is complete must have received their financial aid award package.
• After May 1, students who are offered admission from a wait list may be asked to commit verbally within 48 hours of the offer. Colleges may set their own deadlines for submitting enrollment deposits after students have verbally committed. It is understood that before a deposit or other final commitment is required, students must be notified of the availability of housing and those whose financial aid application is complete must have received their financial aid award package.
• Candidates who remain on a wait list for fall admission must be notified of a final admission decision no later than August

Transfer admission is complex in ways that make it impractical to establish universal dates and deadlines for when applications may be accepted and when candidates must accept or decline offers of admission. Transfer admission is often contingent on the available space in the undergraduate class or in specific majors or programs, or on the number of first-year students who have accepted offers of admission. This significant variation in transfer recruitment and admission practices across institutions makes it difficult to standardize the transition for transfer students.

Fairness and transparency require that transfer candidates not be asked to make a commitment to enroll until they are able to review their financial aid award and an estimate of how many credits already earned will transfer and advance them toward a degree at the receiving institution.

Implementation

• While NACCAP’s Statement of Principles of Good Practice does not set specific dates and deadlines for transfer admission, colleges must clearly state their deadlines for applying for transfer admission, financial aid, scholarships and housing. Colleges must make good faith efforts to be flexible in enforcing commitment deadlines so that candidates have the opportunity to assess all of their transfer, financial aid, course registration and credit evaluation options.
• Colleges will be transparent in publishing their admission requirements for transfer candidates, including restrictions or limitations regarding particular majors or programs.
• Colleges will publish up-to-date lists of the institutions with which they have articulated transfer agreements, including which courses and credits transfer and the minimum course grade that is acceptable for transfer.
• Before transfer candidates are required to submit an enrollment deposit or other commitment to enroll, colleges will provide them with:
  a. an evaluation of their prior college-level credits that is a good faith estimate of how those credits will be applied toward their graduation requirements. An online articulated transfer agreement will meet this requirement.
  b. a financial aid award notification, as long as they have submitted all requested application forms and supporting materials by the designated deadline.
  c. either a deposit deadline extension or, upon request, an enrollment deposit refund, if colleges cannot provide credit evaluations or aid notification and the student decides not to enroll.
• To facilitate transfer, colleges from which a student is transferring will provide accurate, legible and complete transcripts and other school documents for all candidates for admission or scholarships.

Commissioned agents are contracted and paid by colleges that partner with them to recruit international students to their institutions and to establish a local presence in particular regions abroad. Agents advise students concerning curricula, programs, and policies and may also provide in-country marketing or other services to their institutional partners. Some agents are also paid by their student and family clients for college counseling and such additional services as assistance with visa applications, housing, and adapting to a new culture.

NACCAP prohibits member institutions from using commissioned agents to recruit citizens of the U.S. or Canada or permanent residents of the US or Canada since commissions, bonuses, or other incentive payments provided on a per capita basis can lead to biased and self-serving college counseling. Since commissioned agents may be a main source of guidance for many families in countries that lack a significant presence of school-based college counselors, independent educational consultants, and college fairs, NACCAP’s Statement of Principles of Good Practice makes a limited exception when students are neither citizens of the U.S. or Canada or permanent residents of the U.S. or Canada.

NACCAP’s Statement of Principles of Good Practice requires that member institutions that engage agents must ensure that their relationship is completely transparent to students and families and conducted with integrity and accountability. There are ethical obligations that must be followed to protect students, provide a way for colleges to use agents responsibly, and provide the public with a basis for distinguishing agents who are ethical from those who are not.

Implementation

• NACCAP members may have business relationships only with agents who follow NACCAP’s Statement of Principles of Good Practice’s guidelines for commissioned international agents.
  • Agents must abide by the laws and lawful regulations of their own home countries, their students’ home countries, and the countries of the postsecondary institutions with which they have a business relationship or to which they are directing their student clients. This includes neither soliciting nor accepting commissions, bonuses, or other incentive payments provided on a per capita basis for securing enrollment of U.S. or Canadian citizens, including dual citizens and permanent residents.
  • Agents must disclose to their student and family clients the names of all post-secondary institutions with whom they have a business relationship.
  • Agents must provide to both their student/family clients and their post-secondary clients a written agreement that itemizes their services and charges and confirms that they will abide by these guidelines for agents.
  • Agents must not be a party to fraudulent conduct or misrepresentation. This includes fraudulent visa applications, fraudulent test scores and fraudulent admission documents, including applications, transcripts, essays, interviews, résumés, portfolios, and letters of recommendation.
  • Agents must not misrepresent their post-secondary client’s academic and non-academic offerings, costs, facilities, admission requirements, availability of financial aid, or post-graduation outcomes.
  • Agents must not guarantee admission to any post-secondary institution nor guarantee or offer a financial aid or scholarship award.
  • Agents must not offer secondary schools or their personnel any form of compensation for the referral of student or parent clients.
  • Agents must not engage in misleading or fraudulent advertising of their services or publish translations that do not fully and accurately reflect the meaning of the text in the original language.
• NACCAP post-secondary members who have business relationships with commissioned agents agree to meet the following ethical standards:
  • Members must require agents to abide fully by the guidelines for agents that are set forth in NACCAP’s Statement of Principles of Good Practice.
  • Members must ensure institutional accountability by monitoring the actions of those commissioned agents acting on the institution’s behalf and exercise due diligence in responding to complaints of misconduct on the part of agents.
  • Members must disclose that they are working with agents on all promotional information directed toward international applicants. Institutional websites will list the names and contact information of all commissioned agents with whom they have a business relationship.