Rachel Aveni applied early to New York University, a private college.

“Every theater kid wants to be in New York City,” she said. “My voice teacher from my high school was the one who said I should apply early because she thought I’d have a better chance of getting in.” 

Her family has means, but asking for an early decision on her application meant that she couldn’t apply elsewhere and, if accepted, she would need to commit before seeing her financial aid package. She said that was stressful.

“I cried when I first got it because I didn’t think it was going to be enough,” she said. 

When students are deciding where they want to go to college, one option is called early decision. It’s a way for students to signal a particular university is their top choice. But the catch is that they have to commit to going there before seeing their financial aid package. Data shows that students who apply early to private colleges tend to have wealth and resources, and that’s raising concerns about diversity and equity.

Not every college offers it — only about 450 out of roughly 4,000 colleges in the U.S, according to 2019 numbers from the National Association for College Admission Counseling. But that’s up from nearly 100 in the 1990s, a 350% increase, according to College Promise and Education Reform Now.

While they don’t advertise it, many selective institutions admit nearly 50% of their incoming classes early —  numbers that, researchers say, increased dramatically during the pandemic — because it made their job easier.

“It’s definitely functioning as affirmative action for the rich,” said Elizabeth Heaton, a former admissions official at the University of Pennsylvania.

Heaton said colleges like to use early decision “as a way to guarantee a certain percentage of the class right off the bat” and the dollars those students will bring in.

Bryan Cook, director of higher education policy at the Urban Institute, said students who attend private high schools or prestigious “feeder” schools also tend to know more about quiet advantages like early decision that create social, economic and racial inequities.

“We know disproportionately low-income and individuals of color often aren’t thinking about college until the start of their senior year, best-case scenario, maybe toward the end of their senior year, worst-case scenario,” he said.

The numbers of early decision offers rose at highly selective colleges over the past decade, especially since the pandemic. Smith College in western Massachusetts increased the percentage of seats it fills with early decision students from about 30% to 60% in the last eight years.  

Not all colleges and universities disclose their early decision admission rates. The U.S. Department of Education asks colleges to voluntarily report it.

Catharine Hill, a former president of Vassar College, said the uptick in early decision admissions during the pandemic likely reflected colleges’ fears that COVID would hurt enrollment and, consequently, finances.

“Schools were absolutely terrified about whether they were going to be able to fill their classes,” said Hill, who is now managing director of the nonprofit research firm Ithaka S+R. “COVID just brought an amazing amount of uncertainty. To the extent that institutions could lock students in, they did it.” 

To level the playing field for low-income families, state lawmakers in Massachusetts and New York are considering legislation that would ban or limit the practice, requiring colleges that continue to use early decision to report their admission rates and pay a fee. The money collected would help disadvantaged students. 

Under the proposal being considered by the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Higher Education, new revenue would be funneled into a higher education trust fund that would support community college students.

Rachel Aveni, the self-described “theater kid,” said she felt relieved when she was admitted early to NYU. 

“All my friends were stressed about college, and I was not,” she said. “I felt more at peace than I would if I was still applying.”

She’s among the students who are lucky enough to make the financial aid package work.

Still, Aveni faced financial challenges. NYU is one of this country’s most expensive private schools, with costs totaling more than $90,000 a year, and she didn’t get as much financial aid as she had hoped for. 

“We could have used more,” she said. “But I think I was so excited to be going to NYU and my parents were so excited too, it was like, ‘We’ll just figure it out.’”

Aveni went to NYU anyway. And her mom went back to work to help her pay for it.

This story is part of the new podcast “College Uncovered” from GBH News and The Hechinger Report.