Colleges are quietly buying – or as they like to spin it, licensing – lists of potential student names and personal information from companies administering tests like the SAT and ACT. The goal? Recruit, but also recruit to reject. The more applicants a college recruits, the more selective and prestigious they seem in the college rankings.

In this final episode of Season One, Kirk and Jon explore how both selective and less selective colleges and universities use enrollment and financial aid management strategies to increase their applicant pool, lower admission rates and meet their bottom line.

And here’s the key: college is the only industry – outside banking – that can legally access all of your income information and make decisions on your ability to pay before charging you a price. 

Kirk and Jon trace the origins of these practices back to Boston College in the 1970s and follow the evolution of enrollment management systems into a multi-billion dollar higher ed shadow industry.

Colleges now rely on their enrollment management systems to survive and compete for students. And their opaque analysis of a family’s budget can determine whether a student receives steep tuition discounts or “merit scholarships” that can dramatically lower the cost of tuition.

These backroom practices have some former administrators concerned about the effects on access to and equity in higher education – and they’re calling for renewed transparency in college .

“College Uncovered” is made possible by Lumina Foundation.

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Credits:

Hosts: Kirk Carapezza & Jon Marcus

Supervising Editor: Megan Woolhouse

Editor: Jeff Keating

Executive Producer: Ellen London 

Mixing and Sound Design: David Goodman & Gary Mott

Theme Song and original music: Left-Roman

Artwork: Matt Welch 

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Consulting Producer and Head of GBH Podcasts: Devin Maverick Robins

"College Uncovered" is a production of GBH News and The Hechinger Report.