Making it free and easy: Exploring the effects of North Carolina College application week on college access

Abstract

This study uses a series of panel models to explore the effect of North Carolina (NC) College Application Week (CAW) and free college applications during that week on the number of applications colleges receive and number of low-income students who matriculate. Our models suggest that NC saw an increase in applications and low-income student enrollments after the implementation of CAW, but these increases largely occurred at private col-leges, seemingly shifting numbers from public universities. We find that the private colleges offering free applications during CAW experienced increases in the total number of both college applications received.