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The National Association for College Admission Counseling is planning “a facilitated symposium” in March on its report released this January, “Toward a More Equitable Future for Postsecondary Access,” completed with the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.
NACAC said, “NACAC will bring together a diverse group of stakeholders, with a primary focus on teams of institutional leaders from colleges and universities, to develop a full evaluation framework institutions can implement to examine and change practices that create barriers to entry to postsecondary education for traditional-aged and adult students of color, particularly Black students.”
NACAC released few other details of the symposium, and a spokeswoman said they were still working on them.
The report says, “Admission recommendations focus on Black students first and foremost, and financial aid recommendations focus on all underserved populations more broadly. To be sure, racism casts destructive effects on many populations in American society. This report’s focus on Black students is a direct outgrowth of the need for a historical reckoning related to the treatment of Black Americans that reached a crescendo in 2020. This exclusive focus is not intended to minimize or diminish the effects of racism on Indigenous peoples, Asian American students, Latinx students, or other marginalized student populations.”
The report adds, “One cannot paint all Black students, or to a larger extent, students of color, with the same brush. Differences in personality, skills, interests, traits, etc. are as numerous within racial/ethnic populations as they are in the population at large. In this project, following larger societal trends, there are commonalities between, for instance, low-income students, students who are the first in their families to attend college, and Black students. But we wish to make clear that this project was designed specifically to address race and racism without regard to a student’s socioeconomic background.”
Based on the report, NACAC said that “leaders at the convening will develop an actionable framework to address” the application process, factors used in making admission decisions, the composition of the admission office and institutional selectivity.
NACAC will also conduct a national poll to assess student awareness and perceptions of admission policies and practices, particularly among students historically excluded from postsecondary education.
