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What Schools Use the Coalition Application?
By
Gabriel Jimenez-Ekman
Gabriel Jimenez-Ekman is the Director of Content at Scholarships360. He has written over 300 articles on college admissions, financial aid, and scholarships, in addition to spearheading research projects for Scholarships360's Top Colleges resource. Gabriel graduated from Kenyon College with a degree in sociology.
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Cari Schultz is an Educational Review Board Advisor at Scholarships360, where she reviews content featured on the site. For over 20 years, Cari has worked in college admissions (Baldwin Wallace University, The Ohio State University, University of Kentucky) and as a college counselor (Columbus School for Girls).
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Maria Geiger is Director of Scholarship Services at Scholarships360. She is a former online educational technology instructor and adjunct writing instructor. In addition to education reform, Maria’s interests include viewpoint diversity, blended/flipped learning, digital communication, and integrating media/web tools into the curriculum to better facilitate student engagement. Maria earned both a B.A. and an M.A. in English Literature from Monmouth University, an M. Ed. in Education from Monmouth University, and a Virtual Online Teaching Certificate (VOLT) from the University of Pennsylvania.
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As you start to prepare for your college applications, you’ll probably hear about an alternative to the Common Application called the Coalition Application. The two are very similar in some respects, but the Coalition Application differs in that it focuses on matching students with affordable educational options. Here is what you should know about the Coalition Application and a list of the schools that accept it.
Jump straight to the list of Coalition App schools
What is the Coalition Application?
Students use the Coalition Application to apply to any of the institutions that are members of The Coalition. These consist of over 150 schools which have banded together and committed to offer substantial financial aid to admitted students based on their demonstrated financial need. So, although the Coalition App is less of an industry standard than the Common App, it can be useful for students who know that affordability is going to be one of the main deciding factors in their choice.
Being a member of the Coalition is not just about pledging to be affordable. In fact, schools must meet a rigorous set of standards in order to maintain their membership. These include maintaining high graduation rates, high rates of low-income students, and low average debt levels among graduates. So, if you are applying to a school with the Coalition Application, you can do so with confidence that you are pursuing an affordable option.
Also see: How to pay for college (a step-by-step guide)
How does it differ from the Common Application?
The Common Application and the Coalition Application share a few main similarities. They are both standardized applications that students fill out online, and then can submit to a variety of schools. They each have their own essay questions, and also allow schools to include their own supplemental essays. In fact, we have guides on how to complete each Common App prompt as well as each Coalition App prompt.
That being said, only schools that have met the affordability criteria of The Coalition can accept the Coalition App. So, if you are applying to schools using this application, you can be sure that you’ll receive generous financial aid if accepted.
Which should I choose?
So, which one should you use? Well the good news is, you can use both the Coalition App and the Common App. You can still only apply once per school, but it’s totally within the rules to use them both. Most schools on the Coalition App are also on the Common App, but the opposite is not true. So, the Common App is more versatile.
However, if the essay questions suit you better on the Coalition App, or if you want to be sure that every school you apply to gives good financial aid, the Coalition App could be a helpful resource. Both are free to use, so why not try each one out and see which you prefer?
List of schools that accept the Coalition Application by state
Alabama
(None)
Alaska
(None)
Arizona
Arkansas
(None)
California
- California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
- Claremont McKenna College
- Dominican University of California
- Loyola Marymount University
- Occidental College
- Pomona College
- Stanford University
- University of La Verne
- University of San Francisco
- University of Southern California
Colorado
Connecticut
- Eastern Connecticut State University
- Quinnipiac University
- University of Connecticut
- Wesleyan University
- Yale University
Delaware
Washington, DC
Florida
- Florida Southern College
- Palm Beach Atlantic University
- University of Florida
- The University of Tampa
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
- Elmhurst University
- Illinois College
- Illinois Institute of Technology
- Knox College
- Northwestern University
- University of Chicago
- University of Illinois Springfield
Indiana
- DePauw University
- Indiana University—Bloomington
- Trine University
- University of Notre Dame
Iowa
(None)
Kansas
(None)
Kentucky
- Berea College
- Centre College
- University of Kentucky
Louisiana
(None)
Maine
Maryland
- Johns Hopkins University
- Maryland Institute College of Art
- St. John’s College
- St. Mary’s College of Maryland
- University of Maryland—College Park
Massachusetts
- Amherst College
- Babson College
- Bentley University
- Boston University
- Brandeis University
- Clark University
- College of the Holy Cross
- Hampshire College
- Harvard University
- Mount Holyoke College
- Northeastern University
- Olin College of Engineering
- Smith College
- Tufts University
- University of Massachusetts – Lowell
- Wellesley College
- Wheaton College
- Williams College
- Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
(None)
Missouri
Montana
(None)
Nebraska
(None)
Nevada
(None)
New Hampshire
(None)
New Jersey
- The College of New Jersey
- Drew University
- Princeton University
- Rowan University
- Rutgers University – New Brunswick
- Stevens Institute of Technology
New Mexico
New York
- Bard College
- Barnard College
- Binghamton University
- Colgate University
- Columbia University
- Hamilton College
- Hobart and William Smith Colleges
- Ithaca College
- Le Moyne College
- Manhattanville University
- Pace University
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
- Skidmore College
- Stony Brook University
- Syracuse University
- Union College
- University at Buffalo
- University of Rochester
- Vassar College
North Carolina
- Davidson College
- Duke University
- High Point University
- North Carolina State University at Raleigh
- UNC Charlotte
- Wake Forest University
- Western Carolina University
North Dakota
(None)
Ohio
- Case Western Reserve University
- The College of Wooster
- Denison University
- John Carroll University
- Kenyon College
- Miami University – Ohio
- Oberlin College
- Ohio Northern University
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
- Allegheny College
- Arcadia University
- Bucknell University
- Chatham University
- Drexel University
- Duquesne University
- Franklin & Marshall College
- Haverford College
- Lehigh University
- Lycoming College
- Mercyhurst University
- Robert Morris University
- Swarthmore College
- University of Pennsylvania
- University of Pittsburgh
- Ursinus College
- Washington and Jefferson College
- Westminster College
- York College of Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
(None)
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
- Rice University
- Southern Methodist University
- St. Mary’s University
- Texas Christian University
- Trinity University
- University of the Incarnate Word
Utah
(None)
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
(None)
Wisconsin
Wyoming
(None)