I have a theory about colleges...

<p>I think that college acceptances will go higher because of the bad economy. Technically aren't colleges companies/organizations that need money? Does anyone agree? Post opinions please.</p>

<p>I agree…</p>

<p>What? It’s not like colleges are saying “ehh, we could accept more people, but we don’t really feel like it”. If they had the ability to accommodate more students, why would they not already be doing it?</p>

<p>No. I don’t agree. If anything, college acceptance rates are dropping significantly due to increased competition.</p>

<p>Colleges that aren’t labeled for-profit (aka 99% of colleges) don’t use student payment as a way to make themselves richer.</p>

<p>I wouldn’t expect schools who give large amounts of financial aid (both need and merit based) to experience significant changes in acceptance rates. However, for schools who lack strong financial aid programs, I would expect the amount of applications they receive to drop, leading to a higher acceptance rate. Then again, it’s already been four years since Lehman Brothers crashed, so I don’t think that these changes would be significant unless tuition prices rise notably over the next few years (which I doubt.)</p>

<p>I would think it will go up because kids would apply to less colleges (for example I am applying to 8 if I don’t get in ED) and more cheaper options like in state. But from what the data shows, college admissions rate is decreasing.</p>

<p>sounds legit, but who knows these days!</p>

<p>It would have already happened 3-4 years ago if that was the case</p>

<p>I don’t think your hypothesis is going to stand up to any kind of test.</p>

<p>For one thing, most selective colleges are constrained in the number of students they can admit by the number of beds they have available for freshmen in the dorms. Besides that, there are costs associated with taking more students in. Colleges that enroll more students will need more faculty, support staff, classrooms, laboratories, desks, etc., even if the additional students they enroll are all commuters. Those costs will eat up the additional revenue.</p>