A quickly evolving college admissions landscape is casting uncertainty on the looming application cycle. Current high school seniors witnessed the end of race-conscious admissions last year after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the law allowing institutions to consider race as one of many factors in making admissions decisions.
Dr. Anthony Abraham Jack
Students of color are “right at the crosshairs of both of these changes,” said Dr. Anthony Abraham Jack, director of Boston University’s Newbury Center, which aims to help first-generation students at the university succeed. “We are now seeing a revival of dismissing and sweeping under the rug of the very history that now our laws cannot take into consideration."
Jack authored the 2019 book, The Privileged Poor, which explores the challenges students face while navigating the nuances of life on elite college campuses.
Yet another change is exerting an even more immediate impact on college hopefuls. Updates to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form intended to simplify the process caused months of delays that are keeping prospective students from solidifying their post-high school plans. The federal government has not sent many institutions the information necessary for making assessments about how much money students need.
“That is probably the biggest thing that has impacted students of color in the process this year, and what we predict is probably going to keep most kids out of college,” said Dr. Angel Pérez, CEO of the National Association for College Admission Counseling.
Rates of FAFSA submissions among students attending high-minority high schools dropped by nearly 46% year-over-year by February 2024, according to Fitch Ratings data published in March.
