Initial
findings contrast with the predictions of major losses to diversity on
campus following the Supreme Court’s 6-3 court ruling last summer. A landmark 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision ended the consideration of race in college admissions. But one year after the ruling, research shows the number of students of color applying to four-year colleges has increased.
Colleges have seen a 9 percentage point increase in applications from Black students and a 10 percentage point spike in Hispanic students applying to fouryear colleges compared to last year, according to the Common App, the country’s most widely used college application.
The numbers came as a relief to John King Jr., former U.S. education secretary under President Barack Obama and now chancellor of the State University of New York.
“I was very worried that students would take away the message from the Supreme Court that Black and Latino students are not wanted in higher education,” King said. “So I’m glad to see the application numbers are up. We will have to see what the numbers are for representation in the most selective institutions come fall.”
Final college enrollment numbers are not yet available, and the high cost of college could significantly affect students’ ability to attend the school of their choice. But the initial findings contrast with the predictions of major losses to diversity on campus following the Supreme Court’s 6-3 court ruling last summer.
As a result of the ruling, colleges said they would boost student recruitment in low-income high schools or find innovative ways to ensure that their campuses reflected the diversity of society at large.
“[Colleges]
want to make sure they’re in compliance with the law. This is a
particularly sensitive year,” said David Hawkins, chief education and
policy officer for the National Association for College Admission
Counseling. “But they want to make sure to minimize implicit bias and
other forms of bias.”
Some
colleges and universities have boosted their outreach by offering
college courses to high school students to gauge their readiness.
That’s
the work of the National Education Equity Lab, which has seen an uptick
in interest from colleges since the ruling. The program has expanded to
31 states and 120 school districts.
“I
think it’s important that colleges prioritize new pipelines of talent
in lower-income, historically marginalized communities,” said lab
founder Leslie Cornfeld. “And there are tools that exist to do that.”
The
program has benefitted students like Marah Rigaud, an 18-yearold
daughter of Haitian immigrants, who was accepted to Yale University this
fall.
Rigaud has
already completed rigorous college courses from selective schools like
Georgetown University, Arizona State University and the University of
Pennsylvania. She even completed a spring course from Harvard Law School
titled “Intro to the U.S. Legal System.”
“It
taught me that nothing is off the table and you can strive for
anything,” Rigaud said. She wrote about her Haitian culture in her
college essay.
“I referenced my church and how in our masses we don’t necessarily use English, we use French or Haitian Creole,” she said.
But getting into college and paying for it are two separate challenges.
Hawkins,
at the National Association for College Admission Counseling, said
problems with the release of the Free Application for Federal Student
Aid have also “significantly complicated” admissions for the fall.
Colleges,
including Hampshire and Emerson, have recently blamed federal delays
processing FAFSA forms for lower-than-expected enrollment projections.
Only
44% of high school seniors filed the FAFSA by mid-June, down 12
percentage points from the same time last year, according to the
National College Attainment Network.
“We’re holding our breath a little bit for the enrollment numbers to come through,” Hawkins said.
King,
the former Obama administration official, said colleges could also end
the practice of giving admission preferences to the children of alumni
or scholarships for athletic recruits, particularly in sports like
lacrosse, field hockey and water polo.
Colleges often benefit from donations from alumni who are also parents, giving their children an advantage others don’t have.
“If
a kid is working at their parents’ bodega night after night, they’re
learning an extraordinary amount,” King said. “And I would argue they
are learning more than the student who is getting private coaching
lessons and playing in a travel league.”
Since
the Supreme Court decision, only a handful of colleges ended alumni
“legacy” admissions, including Wesleyan University, Carleton College,
Virginia Tech and the University of Pittsburgh.
Kirk
Carapezza is the managing editor and correspondent for higher education
at GBH News. This story was originally published by GBH on June 28,
2024.