[…]
I stand by that high-level assertion, but several recent analyses suggest that they’re making more headway in enrolling low-income learners. A report from the Progressive Policy Institute, analyzing data from the Associated Press and its own research, finds that enrollment of students eligible for Pell Grants has increased at most of the highly selective colleges and universities examined since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision barring consideration of race in college admissions.
The report, co-written by Richard Kahlenberg, who has long advocated for affirmative action based on class rather than race, also suggests that enrollment of Black and Latino learners has declined modestly and concludes, per its title, that we’re seeing “the rise of economic affirmative action,” with universities finding “new and better paths to recovery.”
[…]
