The Common Application is well-known and well-used when it comes to applying to colleges. The Common Black College Application (CBCA) is a similar process with some key features. Whereas most of the time you pay application fees to each college you submit an application to, the Common Black College App allows you to apply to all 53 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) who are members of the service for a one-time application fee of $35.
How does it work?
You can state preferences for which top four schools interest you. But your application will be made available to all the other colleges. 25 of the member colleges are able to access your transcripts and test scores from EDU, Inc., although you’ll have to fax or mail them into the company. The other 28 schools you will have to mail that information directly to the school itself.
It doesn’t handle supplementary materials.
It’s important to note that the CBCA does not handle supplementary materials such as letters of recommendation or essays. Those you will have to send directly to each school that requires them, although there will be no additional fees incurred. This means that there will be a bit of touching base necessary to use this application to its fullest extent. There is also no available waiver for the application fee.
Making applying to colleges more accessible.
The goal of the CBCA is to make applying to multiple colleges more affordable for lower-income families. While currently only about half of the HBCUs in the country accept the CBCA, the list of colleges is growing.
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