The Coalition for College Access

Coalition for Access, Affordability and Success

A new player entered the college application game three years ago and still may be presenting more problems than solutions.  While the jury is still out on the impact it will actually have on college admissions, I thought I would at least share what I know.

The Coalition (LINK: http://www.coalitionforcollegeaccess.org/) is a scaffold of sorts to aid parents and students in the college admission process. It provides you with a free platform of online tools, which aim to streamline the college application experience. As the name itself suggests, the Coalition is an initiative for making college applications easy, affordable and accessible to all students. It aims at diversifying and improving the college application process. Bluntly put, Coalition is that platform which brings together a diverse range of public and private colleges on a singular platform so that the college admission process is easily and equally accessible to all. Before moving on to the details of how Coalition works and what components is it comprised of, let us first seek to understand the basic mechanism of Coalition and what it is.

Who are the Member Schools?

Comprised of some of the most selective schools in the country (BITLY LINK: http://www.coalitionforcollegeaccess.org/members.html), the Coalition brings a myriad of public and private colleges onto its platform. Its member groups comprise of public universities with subsidized tuition fees, which also provide need-based financial assistance to students residing within the state. It also includes private institutions, which also offer financial help for students who need it. 70% of students graduate every six years from these coalition schools, be they private or public.

What are its Components?

The Coalition is comprised of three basic components. These include:

1. Virtual Locker
2. The Collaboration Platform
3. The Application Portal

• Virtual Locker enables the students to keep in their recommendation letters, their supplemental activities, records of their extra-curricular activities and all other academic documents.
• The Collaboration platform enables them to share these important documents with teachers, mentors, and other counselors.
• The application portal fills up the Coalition application with these documents. The students can then choose the institutions where they want to send in their applications.

How will it Benefit Students and Parents?

1. Coalition makes it possible for students and parents to have access to a centralized and singular platform equipped with adequate tools to build, refine and organize their applications to multiple colleges and universities.
2. The college application process offered by Coalition would address all the individual needs of students and cater to their personal requirements of self-discovery and self-reflection.
3. Coalition also goes a long way in leveling the playing field for college application and its preparation by deploying technology.
4. It would give the students an organized knowledge about which schools they could apply in.
5. It also offers them the opportunity to talk to counselors, mentors and teachers to discuss their respective issues and send in their applications with ease.
6. Coalition also aids parents in having easy access to the University’s Financial Aid Personnel.
7. Thus, it aims to help in the affordability of higher education to students coming from all sorts of diverse backgrounds.

What are the Obstacles for Parents and Students?

1. Students hailing from different backgrounds may not have equal access to all the resources required for a successful application. Coalition levels the playing field for them.
2. Lack of proper guidance about the available financial aid can put financial constraints on students’ college applications and limit their choices. Coalition provides all necessary information required in this domain.

The Common Application has so far been the gold standard in this field. Coalition is a comparatively new competitor who is stepping into the domain. However, it has been doing pretty great up till now and is constantly in the process of making changing and alterations to improve both the parents and teachers’ application process experience. One cannot say whether its first iteration would be a complete success or not, but one can definitely predict that in the long run, it is going to produce a big change.