There is nothing wrong with delayed admissions

A college admission practice that is becoming increasingly popular across the U.S. has received opposition from some who think it’s “borderline unethical,” as Monica Inzer, dean of admissions at Hamilton College in New York, said to the New York Times.

Some college admission offices will only allow some less desirable college applicants to be accepted if they attend a different college for a year and maintain a certain grade point average.

This technique will undoubtedly help some colleges while hurting others, but it’s a method that should be seen as unethical or inappropriate, as it helps fill empty desks while allowing applicants the chance to prove themselves and earn admission to the school they had their heart set on attending.

Only 55.9 percent of college students made it through their freshman year in 2008, according to The National Center for Education Statistics. This means that there are loads of empty slots for colleges to fill every year.

Allowing applicants to attend the following school year will help colleges fill the void with students who have already proven themselves, which makes a school look more selective.

Many are understandably upset with the way the practice can take students from competing institutions that were likely unaware the student only intended to stay for one year, which can hurt retention rates.

However, students are already allowed to transfer to another college whenever they want. Delayed acceptance simply offers them guaranteed future enrollment if they aren’t initially accepted into their college of choice.

Students regularly attend two-year colleges such as Hillsborough Community College before transferring to four-year universities such as USF, except schools essentially work together instead of competing with this practice.

Colleges and universities are essentially businesses and, since all their students pay the same tuition, colleges are looking for the best students to make their product more valuable and appealing, which means competition for top students.

At the same time, students are looking for the most valuable education for their time, money and efforts.

The delayed acceptance technique naturally reflects this.

Regardless of the reasons why a student stays at one school or transfers to another, colleges are still getting paid for the time a student studies there.

Some schools on the negative receiving end of the practice, such as Geneseo College in New York, have decided to adopt the technique as a response – likely the best response a school could take.

The only ones truly affected by this are the schools that lose students to more desired institutions. However, but since students are the customers, they have the right to choose where they want to purchase their product, regardless of how they do so.