The program offers students housing and class registration preferences, the opportunity to take online courses for credits during their high school senior year, and an annual $2,000 scholarship as part of their financial aid package. Students would have an admissions answer by mid-December, a month before traditional application deadlines.
Gargano, who crafted the program, said it will boost the university's image. "Quite honestly, these programs provide some cachet," he said. "We want to be known as a topflight institution delivering a great education which has a lot of prestige and honor."
UMass is offering an "early action" program, which allows prospective students to enroll in another school with no penalty except the loss of a nonrefundable fee of about $400. School officials said it is more student-friendly than the binding "early decision" programs offered at other schools.
Twenty-one percent of colleges and universities offer early-action admission, and two-thirds of them say early applications are on the rise, according to a 2003-04 annual report by the National Association for College Admission Counseling. Twenty percent of schools offer an early-decision option.
Among the public schools with early-admission options are Maryland, Delaware, Michigan, North Carolina, and Penn State. Boston College and Boston University are among the local private schools with early-admission options.
Michael London, president of College Coach, a Newton-based firm hired by parents to help get their children into top schools, said the housing preference will appeal to students, while parents will like the scholarships -- worth $8,000 over four years.
"For the value-conscious college consumer, this will help the school to be able to better compete with schools that are slightly more competitive academically," London said.
