We are thrilled to announce that five Illinois community colleges have officially joined the Illinois Launch pilot initiative, committing to piloting a new approach to simplifying the admissions and financial aid process for students across the state. Carl Sandburg, Illinois Central, Parkland, Rock Valley, and Triton community colleges will work within their institutions, with their regional high schools, and with the Illinois Launch team to make it easier for more students in their region to access college.
This milestone is the result of intentional engagement with students to understand why, despite our robust pathways policies, so many still felt like they were facing too many doors with no clear direction on where they led. Through our work with the national Launch initiative since 2023, students told us clearly that the transition from high school to college feels like a maze — too many doors with no signs, and too much like “high school 2.0.” They want different ways to learn, opportunities to earn, and a clear sense of where higher education will take them.
Their voices convinced us that small fixes weren’t enough. If we wanted real change, we had to blur the lines between high school and college altogether. That’s exactly what this pilot sets out to do.
The Launch Pilot
Our work is motivated by a key question: What if our statewide systems enabled a seamless transition between secondary and postsecondary?
The core of this pilot is a radical simplification of the community college application process. This fall, these five colleges are committed to using a high school senior’s submission of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or Alternative Application for Illinois Financial Aid as their admissions application.
Illinois high school seniors already have to complete the financial aid application to graduate; why not reduce the additional steps they have to take to receive an admissions offer? By leveraging the data already provided in the FAFSA or alternative application, we are shifting the administrative burden away from the student and onto the system. This eliminates the need for separate, redundant forms and ensures that students are recognized as “college-bound” from the moment they submit their applications. In addition to the admissions lever, colleges are committed to deploying strategies that reduce barriers to financial aid offers and awards and build on existing pathways and enrollment infrastructure. This work complements the One Click College Admit initiative by giving another opportunity for students in the class of 2027 to experience a shorter, more streamlined path to being admitted to college.
To support our participating colleges, we kicked off a community of practice on April 24, 2026. Across four convenings, we will build relationships across the five college teams, engage in deep design work, share lessons learned, and identify ways this pilot can and should inform broader policy efforts in the state. In our first convening, leaders across student services, admissions, enrollment, and financial aid began to elevate the initiatives they want to build from, discuss the challenges they seek to address, and share solutions that might help their peers address their areas of concern.
All of this work will be informed by further qualitative research: our national partners from Jobs For the Future (JFF) will conduct focus groups in the pilot college regions with high school students, families, and staff from both colleges and high schools. The findings of those discussions will inform proactive and targeted advising interventions delivered to high school seniors as they go through the financial aid process, as well as enrollment supports on the college side to connect students to the programs of study most aligned with their interests.
We see this pilot as a win-win-win strategy: students gain easier access to economic mobility, high schools get improved postsecondary outcomes, and colleges see increased enrollment. We look forward to sharing more updates as these five pilots begin to transform the admissions experience for the Class of 2027 and beyond. Stay tuned as we continue to “launch” new opportunities for every student in Illinois.
In Partnership With
Thank you to our national partners and funders at the Launch Initiative, particularly Jobs for the Future, New America, the Joyce Foundation, and the Gates Foundation for supporting this work in Illinois.
