Prospective students can now apply to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga through the Common Application, an online platform that allows students to apply to multiple colleges and universities at the same time.
The University of Tennessee System chose to add all of its campuses to the platform this year as part of its push to make college as accessible and affordable as possible, Bernie Savarese, a vice president for the UT system, said. The decision came out of conversations with campus leaders about how to make it easier for students to apply to any of its four undergraduate campuses.
“We want to make sure that all students and families know about the really wonderful options they have across the UT system, and then we hope it just makes it easier for them to be able to apply, because really, that’s the first step in the college going process,” Savarese said by phone. “You have to submit an application, and we want to make that as easy as possible.”
(READ MORE: UTC tuition increases for 2024-25 school year)
Students have been able to apply to the Knoxville campus through the Common App for several years, while the campuses in Martin and Pulaski also joined the program this fall.
Previously, if a prospective student wanted to apply to more than one campus in the UT system, the student would have to fill out a separate application for each university. With the move to the Common App, students have access to a single application that can be used to apply to any or all of the campuses.
Each campus’ individual application portal will continue to be available to prospective students.
“For now, we didn’t want to cause any disruption,” Savarese said. “If families who’ve had older siblings or maybe they’ve heard from other people, and they still want to go through those campus websites, they can if that’s what’s easiest and best for them. But we believe that the Common App is another really good option, especially if they’re applying to more than one campus.”
Adding the campuses to the Common App also connects to the UT system’s broader effort to expand access to higher education, Savarese said. In recent years, the system has guaranteed admission to top Tennessee high school students and expanded eligibility for its UT Promise scholarship program, which covers tuition and mandatory fees for qualifying undergraduate students.
Starting Monday and running through Friday, all UT system campuses will waive their application fees as part of a statewide initiative. Beyond this week, each campus has a process for students who meet certain criteria to receive an application fee waiver.
Contact Shannon Coan at scoan@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6396.