Thousands of NC high schoolers to get college acceptance letters without ever applying to attend

During the week of Aug. 18, 63,000 North Carolina high school students will receive college acceptance letters -- even though they haven't applied to college yet.

The new North Carolina College Connect program has prompted 41 colleges in the state to automatically offer admissions to 62,959 students who have at least a weighted 2.8 grade-point average and have completed required graduation courses after their junior year.

North Carolina College Connect is a partnership of a number of statewide organizations, including state K-12 and higher education agencies and foundations and nonprofits. Eleven University of North Carolina System universities, 29 private colleges and all 58 of the state's community colleges participate in the program, though some have slightly different admissions requirements, such as higher grade-point averages.

"We have all come together to say, 'How can we make college admissions easier? How can we open the doors, provide access, provide opportunity?'... because so many students, they don't see themselves as college ready," said Sneha Shah-Coltrane, director of the state Department of Public Instruction's Office of Advanced Learning and Gifted Education.

Shah-Coltrane told the State Board of Education this week that the number of students accepted to college through this program represents about 56% of the state's high school seniors.

"All they have to do is say 'yes' and they are in," Shah-Coltrane said.

The program started last year as a simplified application to college, in which eligible students were invited to fill out a shortened application and would be automatically accepted to some colleges. While state officials estimated more than 70,000 students were eligible, about 6,000 applied to the community colleges and six four-year institutions that were participating.

This year, no application is needed to be accepted, resulting in the far larger pool of students.

Ian House is a student adviser to the board and a senior in the Wake County Public School System. He told the board this week that students have told him they think the program is too good to be true.

"There is no catch, and that is truly the beauty of it," House said.

House said he's "very excited" about the program and that it would reduce the stress of applying to college for many students.

Students don't have to apply to be accepted into the colleges but may need to complete a short form once they get in, if they want to continue with the process at those schools, according to College for North Carolina. Those forms are often free, but could cost between $20 and $75 at some schools.

Each college will have a different date by which the student must accept their offer and enroll.

Students with offers will receive a letter in the mail, but they can also check their College for North Carolina account to check whether they've been accepted.

Students must maintain their eligibility, such as the weighted 2.8 grade-point average, to ultimately enroll in their college of choice.

Students will still need to apply separately for merit-based scholarships and aid.

Not every North Carolina college participates in the program. That includes five public universities: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, North Carolina A&T University, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. It also includes seven private universities, such as Duke University and Elon University.

Students who wish to attend any of those schools must apply in the traditional way to receive admission.