More than 130,000 Georgia high school seniors will receive letters in October listing colleges and universities that are saving spots for them in their 2027 freshman classes—even though they never applied.
Georgia is one of 19 states that have developed some form of a direct-admissions system. Using data about academic performance through 11th grade, colleges essentially apply to students—a reverse of the traditional application process that can create logistical and financial barriers to enrollment.
“For a lot of high school seniors, maybe they aren’t sure if they are college material,” said Chris Green, the president of the Georgia Student Finance Commission, which helped launch the system, called Georgia Match, in 2023. “It’s a real eye-opening experience to say, ‘I’m already admitted to 45 schools.’”
The Education Commission of the States, a research and policy clearinghouse, recognized Georgia’s program July 9, awarding organizers its Frank Newman Award for State Innovation.
Organizers from multiple sectors of state government believe Georgia’s is the largest and most comprehensive direct-admissions program in the country. The first such program began in Idaho in 2015 and other states have followed suit.
While other states’ programs are often limited to a specific university system, Georgia’s program offers provisional admissions to most of the state’s public colleges, universities, and technical institutions. Using the data it has long relied on to compile official transcripts, the state also sends letters to students at both public and private high schools.
Efforts to develop direct-admissions programs come as states increasingly foster collaboration between K-12 schools, higher education, and the workforce to help match students with degrees and jobs in high-demand fields.
Those efforts also come as educators emphasize career planning at earlier ages so that students can align their high school coursework with their desired career pathways.
Eliminating friction from the college admissions process
Organizers have found that eliminating friction from the admissions process can encourage students to give more consideration to in-state schools, helping states retain talent, said Melanie Heath, the strategy director for access at the Lumina Foundation, an organization that aims to expand postsecondary opportunities.
And including a wide array of institutions, including technical schools, may help students who weren’t previously considering college to credential programs in high-needs fields, like skilled trades, she said.
After Georgia launched its match program, freshman enrollment increased 7% at technical schools and 4% at four-year institutions.
Efforts to streamline and reshape college admissions are quickly evolving elsewhere. Through its Great Admissions Redesign program, Lumina has awarded 18 grants to states and universities to refine admissions processes, Heath said.
Among grantees’ plans: integrating more financial aid data into offer letters, incorporating the direct-admissions process into career planning conversations, and making it even more simple for a student to enroll in a school on their list.
“We’ve known for a long time that complexity in process can harm access,” Heath said. “Really the [admissions] system was built for those who have the time, resources, and social networks available to them to navigate that.”
In Georgia, students’ college options are hosted on the same state data platform they use to discuss career paths as early as middle school. Students can click “claim my spot” next to a college on their offer letter to finish the application process, and schools waive application fees in November every year to eliminate another hurdle.
As it works to refine its program in bigger ways, the state has also made small tweaks to ensure students understand how it works, Green said. For example, organizers beefed up the envelope size for offer letters when they realized families had mistaken the business-sized envelopes they originally use as junk mail.
Georgia Match has also worked with K-12 schools to help communicate with students about the direct-admissions process.
“It’s really a game-changer,” Green said. “When we are talking to students and families about planning for college, you can imagine that already comes with some fear and anxiety. We are trying to remove all of that.”
