Dive Brief:

• Nearly 300 U.S. and foreign colleges have told the National Association for College Admission Counseling that they have open seats for fall 2023.
• The figure comes from the admission organization’s annual Colleges Openings Update, published Tuesday, which also documents the availability of housing and financial aid for first-year and transfer students.
• The list is a way for NACAC to flag for students and families which institutions are accepting applications past May 1, the historic deadline by which accepted students make their picks. NACAC plans to keep the database updated and on its website through the end of July.

Dive Insight:

NACAC has released the listing for 36 years. It includes colleges that maintain rolling admissions throughout the year. And often, colleges inform NACAC about open spots after it publishes the database, so it may still change for 2023. 

The admissions group said it will update the listing daily. As of Tuesday evening, it listed 293 colleges.

The list is also part of NACAC’s goal to improve college access and provide exposure for institutions that students might not have considered.

“For students still searching for the right institution for them, it’s important to know most colleges in the U.S. offer admission to a majority of applicants,” Melissa Clinedinst, NACAC director of research and grants,” said in a statement. On average, four-year nonprofit colleges accept 73% of first-year applicants, Clinedinst said.

Over the past couple of years, NACAC has published the list earlier than May, citing high demand for the information. When it initially released last year’s list, more than 200 colleges indicated they had open spots, housing and aid. 

In 2021, more than 530 colleges reported open seats, though not even 200 were listed when the association first published it that year. This was a decline from 2020, when more than 700 colleges were listed in early May, reflecting enrollment stress spurred by the coronavirus pandemic.