The Christian Science Monitor explains why this will be a long and tense summer for high school seniors who are trying to decide which college to attend:
The class of 2008 has been dubbed the "echo boom." At 3.3 million, it's the largest class since 3.15 million baby boomers
graduated in 1977, the National Center for Education Statistics reports.
A
host of factors are fueling the growing selectivity and longer waiting
lists at top-tier colleges. Students send in more applications to
maximize their chances. Colleges, wary of having too many offers turned
down, are hesitant to admit students who may just think of them as a
"safety."
Shifting admissions and financial-aid policies
have also added to the unpredictability. A number of top schools have
dropped early-application options, contributing to the springtime
swell. Others have dipped into endowments to ensure that lower- and
middle-income students can attend debt-free, prompting less
well-endowed schools to wonder how well they can compete. And recent
anxiety about the student-loan market makes it difficult for pricey
colleges to predict how many students will commit.
