In an unusual move, the university imposed a one-year ban on Colorado Academy for early-decision applications, which carry a commitment to attend.

Kailyn Rhone

By Kailyn Rhone

Oct. 26, 2025

At Tulane University, early decision isn’t just a process. It’s practically the brand of its admissions department.

For years, the private university in New Orleans welcomed more than half of its freshman class this way, locking in students months before regular-decision applicants even got a chance. Take Tulane’s class of 2026. About two-thirds of the more than 1,800 freshmen in the class were admitted through early decision, and only 106 with regular decisions, according to a report by Inside Higher Ed. (Others got in through early action, a preferential way to apply without committing to enrolling.)

So when Tulane quietly placed Colorado Academy, a private high school in Denver, on an early-decision suspension for one year, it set off alarm bells. The ban prevented the high school’s next senior class from applying early decision after a student there backed out of an early-decision agreement at Tulane last year.

The message from Tulane, which also paused early decisions at three other high schools it did not identify, was clear: Break the rules and your schoolmates pay the price. But backing out of an early-decision agreement isn’t uncommon, and early decision isn’t legally binding.

While students are expected to enroll if accepted, they can opt out under certain conditions, most commonly because of financial aid concerns. Other reasons may include family emergencies or significant personal changes.

In all, it is “unheard-of” for a university to penalize an entire school over a single student’s backing out of an early-decision agreement, said Susan Weingartner, who has worked in college admissions and college counseling for high schoolers for over 40 years. She added that “college counselors do everything possible to ensure that students or families don’t abuse the policy, so there must be more to the story.”

Sonia Arora, the director of college counseling at Colorado Academy, asked counselors on a national email list whether other schools had ever experienced a similar situation and how to handle it. Ms. Arora even debated if prospective students should “say something like ‘I would have applied E.D. if I could’ and hope for the best.”

In a statement to The New York Times, Tulane said Colorado Academy had failed to uphold the expectations of the early-decision agreement. “A last-minute withdrawal without explanation unfairly impacts other applicants who may have missed opportunities due to the limited number of early-decision offers a university can make,” the university said.

Tulane added that the one-year ban allowed “student counselors to enact a process that ensures their students fully understand the binding nature of early-decision agreements before signing them.”

In response, Colorado Academy defended its college counseling process and said it valued relationships with all colleges and universities. The school also said that it remained committed to supporting its students and that its counselors worked closely with them to “ensure they fully understand and are ready for the obligations that come with an early-decision application.”

Colorado Academy would not confirm the specifics of what had happened with the student who backed out. The Times was unable to identify the student to reach out for comment.

Tulane’s claim that its early-decision process is “limited” and allows only a certain number of offers is misleading, said Mark Salisbury, who runs TuitionFit, a website where people can share their financial aid offers. Universities typically don’t have strict caps on early decision admissions, he said.

Mr. Salisbury added that universities like Tulane should be better equipped to handle situations when students backed out. A one-year ban, he said, makes the decision seem like “extortion.”

“It’s a bad move all the way around,” Mr. Salisbury said. “If one student didn’t show up, if that’s really such a detrimental thing to their entire admissions team, then they’re doing it wrong.”

For schools like Colorado Academy, the consequences go beyond a single admissions cycle. Private high schools often pride themselves on placing students at top-tier colleges, many through early decision. Their reputations rely on strong relationships with elite institutions and successful student outcomes.

Experts say universities not only shape their classes with early decision but also benefit financially. By locking in students early, they stabilize enrollment and secure tuition dollars, often before students have the chance to compare financial aid offers from other schools. Critics have long argued that the system favors wealthier applicants and deepens inequality in the college admissions process.

Those criticisms are now part of a broader legal fight. A new antitrust lawsuit filed by five current and former students in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts accuses 32 top colleges and universities, along with two major college application platforms and a private consortium, of illegally working together to enforce early-decision rules and inflate college costs. The lawsuit argues that these institutions share admissions and financial aid information in ways that reduce competition and hurt students.

Tulane was not included in the lawsuit.

“It does not seem fair that, in order to put my chances of admission on a level playing field with my peers, I had to give up the right to compare the cost of attendance at different schools,” said Jude Robinson, a Vassar College student who is a plaintiff in the suit, in a statement. “I thought I would get more financial aid than I did, but I never got a chance to weigh other options.”

Tell us about your experience with early decision.

Kailyn Rhone is a Times business reporter and the 2025 David Carr fellow.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5789968&forum_id=2E#49375460)

Also this kid's argument is retarded, this is the whole trade of ED: “It does not seem fair that, in order to put my chances of admission on a level playing field with my peers, I had to give up the right to compare the cost of attendance at different schools,” said Jude Robinson

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5789968&forum_id=2E#49375466)

LOL we are fucked

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5789968&forum_id=2E#49377990)

Sonia Arora, the director of college counseling at Colorado Academy

https://archeroracle.org/19735/features/sonia-arora-brings-perspective-sense-of-humor-to-college-guidance-department/

rofl she married HANDSOME unlike usha

She is settling in as a Denver resident once again, with her husband, Conor, and her twin 11-month-olds, Raj and Simran.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5789968&forum_id=2E#49375873)