Local Colleges See Boost in Enrollment of Underrepresented Minority Groups Amid Affirmative Action Shift
Since the US Supreme Court's decision effectively ended affirmative action, colleges in Philadelphia have bucked the national trend by seeing an increase in enrollment of underrepresented minority groups, particularly among Black students.
According to a new report from the nonprofit Class Action, state universities and community colleges have witnessed a significant surge in diversity as the number of students from underrepresented minority groups has decreased at highly selective institutions nationwide. This "cascade" effect suggests that with the loss of affirmative action, admissions teams now consider alternative factors when making decisions.
Philadelphia colleges have managed to defy this trend to some extent. At the University of Pennsylvania, while the percentage of white freshmen dropped from 36.47% in 2018 to 21.94% in 2024, Asian students became the largest racial group with 31.47%. Meanwhile, Black and Hispanic students saw a modest increase.
Temple University is another institution that has seen an uptick in diversity, as the percentage of white freshmen decreased from 56.92% to 28.47 over six years. The share of Black students rose from 12.27% to 29.71%, while Hispanic students also made gains.
La Salle University, which similarly reported significant demographic shifts, saw a decrease in white students and an increase in Black students. These changes suggest that Philadelphia colleges are bucking the national trend as underrepresented minority groups make more modest gains at other local institutions.
However, some concerns were raised by Class Action, stating that the cascade effect could have harmful implications. Black freshmen enrollment increased at schools with lower graduation rates and expected salaries after college. This means that highly qualified students of color who lost an advantage in the admissions process due to affirmative action were not opting out of higher education entirely but instead enrolled at less selective institutions.
As more students opt out of disclosing their racial identity following the Supreme Court decision on affirmative action, this could skew the data and prevent further analysis. Moreover, information about students admitted through legacy preferences is not available, which adds to the complexity of understanding diversity trends in colleges today.
Since the US Supreme Court's decision effectively ended affirmative action, colleges in Philadelphia have bucked the national trend by seeing an increase in enrollment of underrepresented minority groups, particularly among Black students.
According to a new report from the nonprofit Class Action, state universities and community colleges have witnessed a significant surge in diversity as the number of students from underrepresented minority groups has decreased at highly selective institutions nationwide. This "cascade" effect suggests that with the loss of affirmative action, admissions teams now consider alternative factors when making decisions.
Philadelphia colleges have managed to defy this trend to some extent. At the University of Pennsylvania, while the percentage of white freshmen dropped from 36.47% in 2018 to 21.94% in 2024, Asian students became the largest racial group with 31.47%. Meanwhile, Black and Hispanic students saw a modest increase.
Temple University is another institution that has seen an uptick in diversity, as the percentage of white freshmen decreased from 56.92% to 28.47 over six years. The share of Black students rose from 12.27% to 29.71%, while Hispanic students also made gains.
La Salle University, which similarly reported significant demographic shifts, saw a decrease in white students and an increase in Black students. These changes suggest that Philadelphia colleges are bucking the national trend as underrepresented minority groups make more modest gains at other local institutions.
However, some concerns were raised by Class Action, stating that the cascade effect could have harmful implications. Black freshmen enrollment increased at schools with lower graduation rates and expected salaries after college. This means that highly qualified students of color who lost an advantage in the admissions process due to affirmative action were not opting out of higher education entirely but instead enrolled at less selective institutions.
As more students opt out of disclosing their racial identity following the Supreme Court decision on affirmative action, this could skew the data and prevent further analysis. Moreover, information about students admitted through legacy preferences is not available, which adds to the complexity of understanding diversity trends in colleges today.
. I mean, it's awesome that Black and Hispanic students are seeing some gains, even if they're not as big as they used to be. But what's concerning me is the fact that these students are ending up at less selective institutions... like, what if they're not getting the same opportunities for graduation or career advancement? 
I went to a pretty okay school myself and I can attest that it's all about the network and connections you make there. Anyway, gotta give props to Philly colleges for trying to do better 
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️. I mean, you'd think that with affirmative action being gone, things would be all messed up for underrepresented groups. But I guess Philly schools have found a way to adapt 
. The fact that they're seeing more Black and Hispanic students enrolling is definitely a step in the right direction 
. However, it's also kinda worrying that these gains are happening at lower-tier schools 
. What does that say about the quality of education we're providing? Shouldn't our top institutions be doing better by underrepresented groups? 
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. That can't be a good thing for their future prospects. And I'm also worried about how this whole situation is gonna affect data collection and analysis - it's like the numbers are getting all messed up 
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. Maybe we'll learn more from them than from the national trend?
. Affirmative action was just a Band-Aid on a much deeper issue - systemic inequality. And now that it's gone, you'd expect to see more representation at all levels, but I think we're seeing a cherry-picking effect here 
. Those underrepresented groups are getting in, but not necessarily at the top-tier schools 
. They're ending up at less selective institutions, which means they might not have the same opportunities for growth and networking. And let's be real, with more people opting out of disclosing their racial identity, it's gonna mess up the data even more 
. It's like they say, "if you can't measure it, you can't manage it"... or something 
! It's like they're saying, "You know what? We don't need some fancy system to tell us who to accept – we can just be awesome on our own!" 
But for real though, it's crazy that these institutions are bucking the national trend. I mean, affirmative action might not have been perfect, but it was a step in the right direction 
. We can learn from them and figure out a way to make things work for everyone 
. Fingers crossed that we can get some more data on this stuff soon 
!
I mean, if highly qualified students of color are flocking to less selective schools because they lost an advantage in admissions, that doesn't sound super ideal. And what's with all these unknowns like legacy preferences and racial identity disclosure? It's like, we're just scratching the surface here...