Applying to college has never been more confusing.

The new version of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, which was meant to be less complicated for students, is instead a glitchy mess. The Supreme Court’s decision to strike down affirmative action has left high schoolers and their counselors unsure of what can and can’t be said in applications. College admissions officers fear lawsuits, and in many cases are struggling to balance their institution’s stated commitments to diversity with the realities of this new legal landscape.

Meanwhile, there’s a push to admit students who’ve overcome adversity and who demonstrate “grit,” or persistence through challenging circumstances. But we lack a shared understanding of what adversity means. At the same time, students feel pressured to open up about a momentous challenge or life obstacle they have had to overcome; essay prompts from the Common App help fuel such narratives and place an unnecessary burden on students.

What’s more, high-quality data on students’ high schools and home environments, which could help admissions officers contextualize students’ applications and better understand what challenges they’ve overcome, remains lacking. And admissions officers risk allowing their own biases to cloud how they evaluate students.

All of this is to say we’ve reached a breaking point. Policymakers and higher ed institutions must try harder. Here are a few starting points: 

More effective communication on the FAFSA. Many families are still unsure of how to navigate the federal aid process. In response, both colleges and the federal government must better explain what changes have been made and offer step-by-step guidance; this can be done through webinars, easy-to-read pamphlets, and other direct and accessible channels.

Increase opportunities for meaningful communication between admissions officers and school counselors. There is too little clarity on what colleges would like to see reflected in non-academic parts of an application – even more so now that a student’s race may not be considered. Before we embark on another admissions cycle, there must be greater dialogue between colleges and high schools on how to best support college-going students. For instance, counselors would benefit from local Q&A forums with admissions officers, providing an overview of what a strong application might look like and where counselors should direct their limited resources.

Standardize the use of recommendation letter templates. Officers must sift through huge numbers of applications while counselors often juggle hundreds of students on their caseload. One way to improve this is by streamlining the process for writing letters of recommendation:  States, for example, could partner with a team of higher ed professionals to build a standardized template. Not only would this save counselors time guessing what sort of content admissions officers will find most relevant, but it would spare college employees from reading letters of varying quality and formats.

Mandate implicit bias training for admissions officers and that they more equitably allocate their resources. While having contextual data about students and their backgrounds is a necessary first step, how that information is used to evaluate students is just as crucial: Officers’ personal views on what a strong student profile looks like could distort the evaluation process and lead to some students being overlooked. Admissions offices also must take a hard look at their current recruiting practices and invest more time and money into recruiting at high-poverty schools.

Ensuring that higher education is open to all students has never been more important. With urgency to innovate and vast tools at our disposal, I believe that we have the potential to open doors for students who might in the past have felt a college degree was unattainable. Rather than succumb to this culture of confusion, we must challenge our colleagues in K-12 and higher education to build a culture of clarity and newfound connection.

Matthew Nicola is a student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, completing his Ed.M. in the Education Leadership, Organizations, and Entrepreneurship (ELOE) program. The intersection of college admissions, counseling, and equity was the focus of an independent study he conducted through the School Counseling Research Lab.

This op-ed about college admissions was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Hechinger’s newsletter.

The post OPINION: The glitchy FAFSA is only one problem with getting into college. Here’s how to make the process less confusing appeared first on The Hechinger Report.