The Locker: New College Planning Tool To Debut in April

In September, we wrote about a new college planning tool and application for the class of 2017. The Locker—the first of three technology components of this platform from the Coalition For Affordability and Success—is expected to launch next month. Here are some FAQs on the Locker and the Coalition in general.

The Coalition for Affordability and Success offers the Locker college planning tool for storing important essays, papers and projects throughout high school.

What is The Locker? The Locker is a space where students can confidentially store information that they may want to later use as part of their applications to college and will work much in the same way as Google drive or Dropbox. A student could store a very strong graded paper from a teacher, notes on a meaningful project, favorite essays or project summaries, or anything of which they do not want to lose track. A student can create access to a locker freshman year and use it all through high school. At some point there will be collaboration space where students will be able to share materials in the locker with counselors and others. Ultimately they will even be able to attach documents from the locker to their applications.

This sounds complicated. Do I need to create a locker? Creating a locker is optional. If you want to apply to a college using the coalition application you will be able to do so without a locker.

When will the coalition application be available and why would I want to use it? The Coalition expects to release the application sometime this summer. No specific date has been announced. The coalition says that it will be a streamlined, easy-to-use application. We will be monitoring and reviewing the application as soon as it released and keep you informed.

Will all colleges use the coalition application? No. The Coalition currently includes 90 public

and private institutions that offer reasonable tuition with financial aid policies that allow them to meet the full, demonstrated need of all domestic students who are admitted. These colleges must have a 6-year graduation rate of at least 70%. It is important to note that not all the colleges on this list meet need with grants (money that does not need to be paid pack). Some include loans in their aid packages. See the complete list of coalition members

May I use the Common Application and ignore this coalition application? Yes for the most part, however, three universities who previously had their own applications have announced that they will only accept the Coalition application. These are University of Florida, University of Maryland and University of Washington.

For more information, visit the Coalition website.