The Common Application, a nonprofit organization and an online resource that allows students to apply to more than 1,000 higher education institutions using just one application, is implementing new changes for the 2023-2024 academic year that will make the process more inclusive for nonbinary individuals.
“Many students face systemic barriers embedded within the college application process. These barriers can prevent them from taking the crucial first step of applying to college,” the organization says.
Applicants will now be able to select “X or another legal sex” as an option for their gender, reflecting the U.S. government’s changes to allow “X” as a gender selection on passports in 2022.
The modifications build upon the organization’s efforts to expand LGBTQ+ inclusivity. Last year, it updated applications to include “Mx.” and “other” as prefix options and added “legal” to the first-name question label.●
This article was published in our April 2023 issue.
