The Foreign Service Journal, December 2016

92 DECEMBER 2016 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT Francesca Kelly writes frequently for the Jour- nal on education issues relevant to the Foreign Service community. A s if life weren’t already con- fusing enough between uni- versities’ own applications for admission and the Common App, we now have—ta-da—the Coali- tion Application, a free online college application platform developed by the Coalition for Access, Affordability and Success, a membership group of col- leges and universities. The Coalition App has been variously described as an application designed for low-income and first-generation college applicants; as a way to round out the application so it tells colleges more about their applicants; and as an alternative to the Common Application, which has admittedly held somewhat of a monopoly What Is the Coalition App? There’s a new college application platform on the block. Most schools aren’t using it exclusively yet, but underclassmen may want to set up an account and test its unique new Locker feature. BY FRANCESCA KE L LY on the application business. Launched just a few months ago, the Coalition App is only required by one school for the 2016-2017 academic year—the University of Florida. Other schools, all members of the Coalition, offer it; but they do so alongside their own or the Common Application so that applicants have a choice. About half of the Coalition membership schools are taking a wait-and-see approach. Although it’s too early to tell how well the Coalition App works, high school students should investigate this new player in the college applications game; and students applying to the University of Florida have no choice but to get to know it. Access, Affordability and Success The Coalition for Access, Afford- ability and Success sprang out of discussions among elite institutions about accessibility to higher educa- tion for all, leading to the development of the Application by administrators from Emory, Smith and the University of Maryland. The Coalition now has 95 members, including all of the Ivy League universities, as well as other prestigious institutions. College admissions officers have long observed the difference between students who receive help with their applications—typically wealthier stu- dents at better-equipped high schools— and those who are disadvantaged in some way vis-à-vis the college applica- tion process, either by being first-gener- ation applicants or coming from schools with few resources to assist them. The Coalition sought to create a col- lege admissions atmosphere that was friendlier to minority and low-income students. The technical problems that wreaked havoc after the 2013 Common App revisions added momentum to the desire to create an alternative platform. And so CAAS was born. To be a Coalition member, schools must graduate at least 70 percent of