Application Service Gets ‘A’ : Education: Computer link allows students to save precious time and money while selecting a school. It was a dad’s response to his son’s struggles.

WASHINGTON —  Jerry Paxton watched for four months as his son labored over one handwritten college application after another. Then he hit on an idea:

A computer network that allows students to fill out a single application and funnel it electronically to several colleges at once.

So he created College Link, a year-old service based in Concord, Mass., that is plugging about 1,000 college applicants into the admissions offices of 400 schools, shortening the application process to a few hours.

“I asked myself, ‘Isn’t there possibly a better way?’ ” said Paxton, a former executive for a computer manufacturing company. “It’s been a popular concept with the colleges.”

College Link works like this: Students send for a $30 software package and load the software onto personal computers or those at school.

After writing essays and figuring out what information they plan to send, they enter the data into the computer as outlined by a list of instructions.

Students can use the process for applications to up to 12 of the 400 colleges, about a dozen of which waive application fees for College Link users.

The students store the information on a computer diskette and mail the diskette to a processing center, which forwards the information it contains to the students’ chosen colleges.

The service waives its $30 fee for students who can’t afford it. Between 10% and 15% of College Link users were granted waivers, Paxton said.

“It clearly should be available to everyone,” Paxton said. “We found nearly half the kids actually did it in their high schools. It’s encouraged by many schools.”

A broad range of colleges participate in College Link; large, small, public, private, all-male, all-female, liberal arts, technological. Julia Mark, 16, of Reading, Mass., applied to five colleges through Paxton’s service. It took 1 1/2 hours.

Another college to which she applied, Brown University, is not on Paxton’s service; that application took two weeks, Mark said.

“It was a real lifesaver,” said Mark, who wants to major in chemistry. “A lot of my friends are still worrying about finishing their nine or 10 applications by hand, and I’ve finished mine.”

Charles Nolan, director of admissions for Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., said College Link helps his office efficiently handle a last-minute rush of applications for the business management college, which enrolls about 2,200 full-time students.

“Our fax machine is smoking right around the deadline date,” Nolan said. “This is a very natural thing for contemporary students. If you’d asked me five years ago if this was possible, I would say only in one’s mind.”

After his son Greg’s January-to-April application marathon, Paxton used his own service last year for daughter Ashley’s applications. Greg “basically ended up attending the last college he applied to,” although Ashley “knew by Dec. 15th where she was going.”

“When a student is doing six to eight applications, the latter ones tend to diminish in quality,” Paxton said.

“The student loses enthusiasm for getting into these things. The concept of a quality effort, once, is what we’re trying to support.”