The UM System is joining the Common Application, a nonprofit organization that allows prospective students to apply to multiple universities using the same application, according to a [news release](https://www.umsystem.edu/ums/news/news_releases/032217_news) published Wednesday.

The application will be used in addition to the current admissions process and is expected to go into effect in August for admissions for the fall 2018 semester, UM System spokesman John Fougere said.

Fougere called the new admissions process an “investment into increasing the number, quality and diversity of the applicants” in an email.

“By adding our campuses to the Common App’s network, prospective students can use the service to apply to any of our four UM System institutions, while easily managing all aspects of the process,” UM System President Mun Choi said in the release.

More than one million students are expected to apply to more than 700 colleges and universities this year using the Common App, according to a [fact sheet](https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8T7VG8uKGE0UVlpZVpoTGVKdE0/view) on the Common Application website.

The university will incur a cost of about $6 for each student who applies with the new system, but this cost will not be passed on to students, and application fees will remain the same, according to MU spokeswoman Liz McCune.

Choi initiated the use of the Common App after seeing its benefits at other universities, McCune said.

“By becoming a member institution of this innovative program, we will increase the visibility of the UM System campuses across the nation and world,” Choi said in the release.

MU faced a 21.1 percent drop in freshman enrollment for 2016, but so far there are no projections regarding how the Common App could change enrollment numbers in the coming years.

_Edited by Nancy Coleman | ncoleman@themaneater.com_