UNC considers halting use of paper applications

UNC is considering shredding the traditional paper application.

At a meeting Tuesday, a group of faculty members and administrators who oversee admissions discussed ceasing the printing and distribution of the paper application, which could save the University about $60,000 a year.

But some committee members expressed fear that disadvantag ed prospective students who don’t have Internet access — many of whom are minorities — might be alienated by discontinuing the paper application, which could occur within two years.

UNC and many peer institutions such as the University of Michigan include paper applications in the basic information packets they send to prospective students.

The percentage of prospective students using the paper application has dropped from 27 percent in 2003 to 2 percent in 2009.

But the numbers vary among ethnic groups. This year, 10 percent of black applicants applied using the paper application, compared to 2 percent of white applicants. Other ethnic groups, such as Native American and Asian-American, also were around 1 percent or 2 percent.

Because of this discrepancy, Director of Undergraduate Admissions Stephen Farmer said he is hesitant to end the paper application immediately.

“We want to make sure we foster access,” he said. “We’re concerned with students who don’t have access to online tools.”

Steve Reznick, associate dean of the Undergraduate Education Office, suggested that UNC only send paper applications to schools where students are less likely to have access to computers.

David Ravenscraft, associate dean of the Kenan-Flagler Business School, said UNC could use the money to encourage diversity in alternative ways.

“The economist in me has to ask, ‘Couldn’t you take the money we’re spending on paper applications and put it toward a scholarship for first-generation college students?’” he said.

B’anca Glenn, president of the Black Student Movement, said she did not think eliminating paper applications would decrease the diversity of the applicant pool.

“If 10 percent of African American students are using it, the solution could be to encourage that 10 percent to use the online application instead,” she said.

Farmer said black applicants were not deterred when the school stopped sending paper applications to prospective transfer students.

“We did away with printing and mailing transfer applications five or six years ago, and diversity didn’t differ in that applicant pool,” he said.

At the University of Virginia, paper applications must be requested.

“We wanted to go green and save money. We still carry paper applications when we travel and give them out to whoever needs them,” said UVa admissions counselor Julie Roa.

Barbara Jo Polk, senior associate director of admissions at UNC, said paper applications will eventually be eliminated.

“It’s one of those things where, realistically, it’s not a matter of if, but a matter of when,” she said.



Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.