Webinar Wednesday : Admissions Pracitces & the SPGP

Admissions Practices and the SPGP

INTERNATIONAL ACAC2016 Webinar

Wednesday

January 13, 2016

• Andrew Moe, Swarthmore College (USA ) – Moderator and VP for Admissions Practices, International ACAC

• AP Committee Panelists:– Jamie Kanki, New York University (USA)– Joe Kralick, Stanford University (USA)

Panelists

Webinar FacilitatorAaron Andersen, University of British Columbia (Canada) VP for Communications, International ACAC

• Review what the Statement of Principles of Good Practice (SPGP) intends to do and how to find it

• Examine and discuss recent changes to the SPGP

• Collectively discuss typical cases that the AP Committee reviews each year

• What’s next?

Webinar Aims

• What is SPGP?– NACAC’s Statement of Principles of Good

Practice brings focus to principled conduct among colleges and universities, high school and independent counselors in the recruitment of students and their transition to postsecondary education.

NACAC’ STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES OF GOOD

PRACTICE

Statement of Core Values and Member Conventions Mandatory Practices (what we all must do) Interpretation of these Mandatory Practices Best Practices (not required, but strongly urged; what

we should do) Education, Monitoring Procedures, and Penalties

(how NACAC and International ACAC enforce the SPGP)

SpGP Components

Where is the Spgp?

• 2015 National Assembly changes – Mandatory Practices:– All postsecondary members agree they will not ask

candidates, their schools, their counselors or others to list or rank order their college or university preferences on applications or other documents*

– All postsecondary members agree they will permit first-year candidates for fall admission to choose among offers of admission and institutionally-affiliated financial aid and scholarships until May 1, and state this deadline explicitly in their offers of admission, and not establish policies nor engage in practices whose effect is to manipulate commitments prior to May 1**

*Not asking students to rank order college choices is already in force. Not asking them to name their choices will apply to the 2017 admissions cycle.

**Effective for the 2017 admissions cycle.

WHAT’S NEW WITH SPGP?

• 2015 National Assembly changes - Interpretations:– All postsecondary members agree they will not ask candidates,

their schools, their counselors or others to list or rank order their college or university preferences on applications or other documents• Postsecondary members can assess their candidates’

level of interest, but not by asking them to indicate a first choice or to rank or name their other college choices

• Students are considered “candidates” until they have officially confirmed their intention to enroll, usually by submitting an enrollment or tuition deposit, or have declined their offer of admission, or have had their offer of admission canceled.


• 2015 National Assembly changes – Best Practices:– All postsecondary members should not allow admission,

financial aid, or scholarship decisions to be influenced by a list or rank ordering of a candidate’s other college choices. This includes, but is not limited to, lists obtained from financial aid applications, testing agencies, or other sources*

Effective for the 2017 admissions cycle.


• Anycity University emailed a student congratulations on his admission for fall 2016. The student received the email on January 15, 2016. In part, it says:

• “Congratulations on your admission! Your next step is to secure your place in the Class of 2020. Please submit your enrollment deposit by February 1 to ensure you have access to all financial aid and scholarships Anycity offers. The deposit is fully refundable.”

• Does this violate SPGP?

TYPICAL AP CASES – CASE 1

Yes.

SPGP Mandatory Practices: B. Admission, Financial Aid and Testing Policies and Procedures.

All postsecondary members agree that they will: Permit first-year candidates for fall admission to choose among offers of

admission and institutionally-affiliated financial aid and scholarships until May 1, and state this deadline explicitly in their offers of admission, and not establish policies nor engage in practices whose effect is to manipulate commitments prior to May 1.*

*Effective for 2017 admission cycle.


• Yes.

• SPGP Mandatory Practices - Interpretations• Offers of admission must clearly state whether deposits

submitted by students prior to May 1 are refundable or non-refundable. Making a deposit refundable, however, still obligates an institution to abide by the May 1 Candidates Reply Date.

• Colleges will neither retract nor adversely alter their offers of admission and/or financial aid 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 (including time zone) to submit an enrollment deposit.


If the student applied for financial aid and turned in all of his documents:

SPGP Mandatory Practices: B. Admission, Financial Aid and Testing Policies and

Procedures. All postsecondary members agree that they will:Notify accepted aid applicants of financial aid decisions before

the enrollment confirmation deadline, assuming all requested application forms are received on time.


• Smalltown College sent an email to counselors in their database. In part, the message reads:

• “Smalltown College also offers the Presidential Merit Scholarship. Admitted students receiving a score of at least 30 on the ACT composite or 1300 SAT (critical reading and math) will receive an automatic $5,000 Presidential Merit Scholarship, renewable for four years.”



Most likely, yes.

SPGP Mandatory Practices: B. Admission, Financial Aid and Testing Policies and Procedures.

All postsecondary members agree that they will: Not use minimum test scores as the sole criterion for admission, advising or

for the awarding of financial aid.

Interpretations: Financial aid is defined as grants, loans, work-study, and scholarships. This

practice does not apply to scholarship and financial aid programs that fall under state mandates.


• AdmissionUSA is seeking clients in Lima, Peru. According to their website, they “adhere to NACAC’s SPGP” and promise to conduct themselves with accountability, transparency, and integrity.

• The Director of Latin American Recruitment contacts area schools, and says, in part:

• “We are offering secondary schools the ability to award US$1,000 scholarships to members of their senior class for each family from your school who indicates they heard about our services from you. There is no limit on the number of scholarships your school can receive from AdmissionUSA.”



Most likely, yes.

SPGP Mandatory Practices: A. Promotion and Recruitment. All members agree that they

will: Not offer or accept any reward or remuneration from a secondary school,

college, university, agency, or organization for placement or recruitment of students in the United States. Members will: (Interpretations) Be compensated in the form of a fixed salary, rather than commissions or

bonuses based on the number of students recruited; Not contract with secondary school personnel for remunerations for referred

students.


• SPGP Mandatory Practices:• A. Promotion and Recruitment. All members agree

that they will:– Not employ agents who are compensated on a per capita

basis when recruiting students outside the United States, unless ensuring they and their agents conduct themselves with accountability, transparency, and integrity; Members will: (Interpretations)• Ensure institutional accountability by monitoring the actions of

those commission-based agents acting on the institution’s behalf;• Ensure transparency with a conspicuous statement on their

website that indicates their institution uses agents who are compensated on a per capita basis


• Ensure integrity by dealing ethically and impartially with applicants and other stakeholders, honoring commitments and acting in a manner that respects the trust and confidence placed in the institutions and the individuals representing them;

• Adhere to US recruitment remuneration laws (US Higher Education Act) for US citizens, where applicable;

• Not contract with secondary school personnel for remunerations for referred students.

• Awarding of money in any form would be interpreted as a “remuneration for referred students”, regardless of whether it’s in the form of a scholarship.

• Secondary schools (and employees) that refer students for placement and recruitment in the US would be in violation of SPGP.


• International ACAC recognized the NACAC SPGP is not a perfect documents, especially for international topics.

• International topics and concerns include:– Rise of agent use, and ensuring integrity, transparency, and

accountability in the use and employment of agents– Double-dipping and receiving fees from families and institutions– Counselor conflict-of-interest – who employs this counselor, what

incentives are established, additional fee-based compensation– Admissions officers accepting honorarium for representing their

institution – many more expenses for international trips and different compensation offered internationally compared to domestic trips

– Diversity of institutions across multiple countries and how US-centric deadlines and mandatory practices may affect practices in other countries

WHAT’S NEXT?

• If you are interested in being part of the discussion to develop the International ACAC SPGP, please email Andrew Moe at [email protected]

• If you wish to voice your concerns about ethical dilemmas professionals face – or you have international topics for a new SPGP – please email [email protected]

• If you have ANY complaint, question or concern about existing practices and procedures you witness or encounter when counseling students and families, please email [email protected]

WHAT’S NEXT?

mailto:[email protected]

