The ASU Helios Decision Center for Educational Excellence is expanding a program that sends college acceptance letters to Arizona high school students before they’ve even applied.

In 2021, Arizona State University started sending acceptance letters to students in the Phoenix Union High School District who met their admission requirements.

The program has expanded to 28 public school districts across the state and all three of Arizona’s public universities.

The ASU Helios Decision Center for Educational Excellence, which is a partnership between Helios and Arizona State University, administers the program. It compiles data from school districts to determine which students meet the requirements to receive the acceptance letters.

Helios President and CEO Paul Luna said many low-income and first-generation college students believe they won’t be accepted to a university.

"This [program] starts to help a student to understand that they actually are college ready," Luna said. “And the university is reaching out proactively to say, and we're here to help you to make this process of you going from high school into our university environment more seamless [and] more easy to manage.”

Luna said the letters also point students to resources for financial aid and other support they might need.

"That's where I think we're seeing the advantage of these letters," Luna said. "The student is better informed on where those opportunities [are] that might be uniquely available to them to make the college application process and ultimately, the attendance of college at a university level affordable for the student."

Luna said eventually, they want eligible seniors at all Arizona public high schools to receive those letters.

Of the nearly 11,000 students who received letters this year, about 43% are white, 43% are Latino, 5% are Asian, 4% are Black and 2% are Indigenous. About 41% qualified for free or reduced lunch while in high school.

Of the 7,269 students who received letters in the 2022-23 school year, 33% applied and were formally admitted to one of the three state universities.