According to the latest report by the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), an extensive selection of approximately 300 U.S. and international colleges have confirmed open seats for fall 2023. This valuable information, shared in NACAC’s annual Colleges Openings Update, encompasses crucial details regarding housing and financial aid options for both first-year and transfer students.
NACAC’s comprehensive list serves as an essential resource for students and families, offering insights into which institutions are still accepting applications beyond the traditional May 1 deadline when accepted students typically finalize their choices. Rest assured, NACAC pledges to continually update and maintain this database on its website until the end of July, ensuring its reliability throughout the college application process.
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, May 2nd 2023, it listed 293 colleges.
The list is also part of NACAC’s goal to improve college access and provide exposure to 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.