Coordinating board expands Free College Application Week coverage and moves to tighten communications, data and fraud controls

The Higher Education Coordinating Board staff briefed the Applied Texas Advisory Committee on planning and operational changes for this year's Free College Application Week and invited feedback on reporting and training needs.

Claudet Jens summarized last year’s stakeholder feedback: institutions reported rushed or incomplete applications, duplicate submissions, and students applying across multiple terms, sometimes at the direction of school districts. "We heard concerns regarding duplicate applications and students applying across multiple terms," Jens said, adding that districts had in some cases encouraged students to submit many applications without a clear intent to enroll.

Jens noted that, effective May 13, 2026, the rules governing Free College Application Week were amended to expand the program to include all undergraduate application types — two-year, four-year, transfer, returning and visiting student applications for any available term. Jens said staff will update web resources and FAQs and will use HubSpot and other channels to distribute communication toolkits and readiness checklists to K–12 partners and institutions.

Committee members asked for more granular reporting. Connie Coleman and others requested data on how many fee waivers were used and whether those students would have qualified for waivers outside the event (for example, TRIO participation or free/reduced lunch), plus institution- and district-level breakdowns and counts by application type and semester. Staff said admin-portal reports exist and agreed to coordinate offline to define the most useful exports and aggregates.

Fraud emerged as an operational priority: institutions reported that fraudulent submissions increasingly involve stolen identities rather than automated bots. Staff described the account-lock feature that flags and locks accounts submitted to the help desk; locked-account status is visible in the admin portal. Jens said affected applicants must contact the agency directly to resolve a locked account so they can apply legitimately, and staff acknowledged the process will remain case-by-case.

Other operational improvements under consideration include stress and load testing to prevent performance failures during peak volume, clarifying eligibility messaging on the Apply Texas site (for example, validating graduation year against selected term), and offering targeted training for K–12 counselors in August and September to reduce large-volume, low-intent drives.

Committee members recommended including guidance that many students already qualify for fee waivers and should apply earlier to avoid missing program availability or deadlines. Staff asked members to continue reporting edge cases such as legacy address/county-code mismatches so the team can track and fix remaining issues.

The committee did not vote on new policies at the meeting; staff will continue refining communications, reporting options and fraud protocols before the event.