This week in college admissions, Michigan added Early Decision, FAFSA completion rates returned to pre-pandemic levels, five more universities took action to prepare for funding shortages, new data showed an increase in this year’s college student population, and the Department of Justice pressured UVA’s president into resigning.
The University of Michigan announced it will offer Early Decision for students applying for Fall 2026 first-year admission. Early Decision will be offered in addition to Early Action and Regular Decision. New programs and changes to Michigan’s supplemental essay questions were also announced.
FAFSA completion rates–with nearly 54 percent of graduating seniors finishing the application– returned to pre-pandemic levels. The milestone is a tremendous achievement, particularly after the last two cycles’ releases were botched by technological hiccups.
Five more universities took action to prepare for funding shortages: Stanford released a plan for the 2025-26 year cutting operational funding by $140 million; Yale paused 10 active construction projects; Brown officials warned Monday of staff cuts as well as changes to faculty hiring and graduate admissions levels; Boston University announced the layoff of 120 employees; and George Washington University instituted a hiring freeze.
New data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center showed promising news: the college student population rose 3.2% from last year, and is now within a percentage point of pre-pandemic levels– the closest it’s been since 2020.
New reporting revealed that the Department of Justice demanded UVA president Jim Ryan resign, in a highly unusual intrusion by the federal government into university governance. The DOJ pressure reportedly came when Ryan did not thoroughly dismantle UVA’s DEI programming in response to the federal government’s ban in February.
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