How rich kids snap up early college spots

Early college admissions decisions allow gung-ho students to apply early in the hopes of securing, and then pledging themselves to, their dream school.

But the process is shifted heavily in favor of students from white and affluent families, which means that by the time seniors from less fortunate families apply, fewer seats are available, according to a new report from Bloomberg News.

Of course, students from less privileged homes can also apply to early decisions, but those families often wait because they want to compare financial aid packages from different colleges. The hitch with early decision programs is that students are can apply to only one early decision college and then must make a binding pledge to attend if they are given enough aid.

Already, Northeastern and Duke have given away about half of the spots for this fall's class, while Vanderbilt anticipates being 44 percent full by February, according to Bloomberg. Only a decade ago, universities typically filled about one-quarter of their open seats through early admissions.

The practice isn't limited to only a handful of schools, either: About 460 now offer early admissions, up from about 100 colleges in the 1990s.

Regular applicants face a serious downside: Fewer spaces for those who aren't able to apply for early admissions means lower admissions chances. The typical "decision day" for all college applicants is May 1, when students need to have accepted their top choice for fall enrollment.

For families for whom money isn't an issue, early admissions offers their students a higher chance of acceptance. Yale and Stanford admitted almost 14 percent of early applicants in the 2009-10 school year, or about twice the rate for the regular pool of applicants, according to a 2010 study by Christopher Avery, a Harvard public policy professor, and Jonathan Levin, a Stanford economist.

It's important to note that there are several levels of early admissions, ranging from the early decision plan, which is binding, to early action plans, which allow students to apply to more than one college. The latter are more approachable for lower- or middle-income families because they allow for some shopping around.

It's tougher than ever to gain acceptance to a top school like Harvard, which has seen its admissions rate decline for several years. At the same time, many families view a degree from an Ivy League school as a way to secure a promising future for their children.

With the cost of elite colleges pacing far ahead of inflation, the early admissions process may add to the social stratification that's already putting colleges out of reach of middle-class and lower-income families.

Because the process favors wealthy and white families, early admissions should "raise questions," according to a 2011 paper published by the Center for Enrollment Research, Policy, and Practice at the University of Southern California.

The researchers noted: "Our findings indicate that early admissions programs, and in particular, early decision, perpetuate social privilege and stratification."