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Adaptability is key right now. You may be trying to help your high schooler decode math and history, juggle your job’s changeups and figure out your kiddo’s college plan, too. 

The National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) currently offers a handy online tool (lifesaver!) to help you. The tool catalogs COVID-19 changes to over 800 campuses.

NACAC details adjustments to college admission events, deposit dates and more. It’s a great resource if you were ready to pilot college visits or hit the deposit button for a particular school.

What Senior Parents Can Learn from NACAC’s Site

Parents — you’re not alone if you’re feeling majorly uneasy about your child going off to college. In fact, Quatromoney and TuitionFit created a national flash survey to understand how the COVID-19 outbreak currently affects high school seniors and their families. Three hundred families participated. The results found that 25.7% of respondents are rethinking their college choice due to COVID-19. 

You may be lying awake at night because you’re just not sure what’s going to happen — and that’s normal. There’s a lot outside of your control. What you can do is know exactly what each college is doing in light of the outbreak, thanks to NACAC.

Changed Candidate Reply Deadline and Deposit Deadline

May 1 is National Candidate Reply Date. This is the day that high school seniors must inform colleges of their intention to enroll or not enroll in a college. Some schools have pushed decision day to June 1.

NACAC’s coronavirus update tool shows those deadlines for various colleges.

Campus Closures

Is the school your child’s planning to attend closed? You can find out on NACAC’s site. The website can also help you learn more about schools’ individual responses to the crisis.

What Junior and Sophomore Parents Can Learn from NACAC’s Site

You may have been gung-ho about hitting a circuit of college visits this spring if you have a sophomore or junior. Here’s what you can learn about the “new normal” for each school through NACAC.

Admission Office Visits

Some colleges are open to admission visitors, and you can find detailed information on NACAC’s comprehensive website. For example, let’s say your child plans to visit Central Michigan University. You can see that it’s still open to admission visitors and admission events as of March 24.

The site offers a link to each school’s coronavirus updates and how to contact the admission office or financial aid offices. 

Admission Events 

Admission events could include spring visit days, junior/sophomore visit days, overnight visits and more.

Group visits can help your sophomore or junior (or even freshman!) get a taste of what to expect at a particular college. It can involve the following: 

  • Tour of campus
  • Admission overview
  • Academic component
  • Current student component

NACAC’s tool shows schools’ canceled group visits and whether they’ve been replaced by virtual events.

National College Fairs

College fairs offer snippets about each college you want to attend. Unfortunately, all spring 2020 college fairs are canceled, including National College Fairs and STEM College and Career Fairs.

College Testing

Your child may have been getting ready for college entrance exams or other tests. Here’s a quick overview of the current situation for college testing:

  • SAT tests: The SAT for May 2 is canceled. Makeup exams scheduled for March 28 are also canceled.
  • AP tests: Students can take a 45-minute AP exam from home.
  • ACT tests: ACT rescheduled its April 4 national test date to June 13.

Check Back on NACAC’s Site

NACAC’s done a terrific job of offering a valuable resource for college admission during this time. Remember, colleges are doing everything they can to answer questions, provide information and offer solutions in the short term and long term. The site will keep updating as time goes on.

Can’t find a college on NACAC’s list? Contact the admission office at the college your son or daughter plans to attend for its COVID-19 announcements.

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