WASHINGTON, D.C. — The average rate of college applicants declining to report their race increased from 3.3 percent to 4 percent following a U.S. Supreme Court decision that ended affirmative action in college admissions. A report from Class Action, a higher education nonprofit organization, analyzed data from the Department of Education, two state education departments, and multiple individual colleges regarding applicant race disclosure.
The Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in a ruling that favored Students for Fair Admissions in cases against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. James Murphy, a senior fellow at Class Action, expressed concern about the implications of the data collection going forward. "My concern is that the Trump administration will not actually look at this data, won't take it into account at all. If there's an uptick in percentage of students who are not reporting their race, that's going to make it harder to interpret what numbers you do have for demographics." Murphy said.
The Department of Education's Admissions and Consumer Transparency Supplement mandates that colleges provide demographic information on applicants, admitted students, and enrolled students. The highest growth in race nonreporting occurred at Ivy-plus institutions. Wellesley College observed an increase in enrolled students who declined to report their race, rising from one student in the 2022 to 2023 academic period to three students in 2024.
The report also identified a decline in students reporting their race on ACT and SAT standardized tests. Gina Lee, a college counselor in California who primarily advises Asian and Asian American students applying to highly selective colleges, said. "I think they're very weary. They don't trust anybody." Lee said.
California's Proposition 209, which ended affirmative action in the state during the 1990s, also showed similar trends. According to a study by Princeton University economist Zachary Bleemer, data from the University of California system indicated that Black and Hispanic students became more likely to withhold race on applications after the implementation of Proposition 209.