January 22, 2023

College Admissions as We Know It is About to Change

Hello Reader,

Happy Sunday. Hope this edition of the newsletter finds you and yours well. This week, the focus of the newsletter is on the role of race in U.S. college admissions, the so-called affirmative action.

A pair of cases currently before the U.S. Supreme Court seems set to upend college admission as we have known it for at least 40 years. The 1978 landmark case, Regents of the University of California vs. Bakke, set the precedent for the role of race today in U.S. college admissions. Here is a summary of what led to the case from Oyez, the online repository of U.S. Supreme Court cases:

The justices were divided on this case. Four of them thought using a racial quota was unconstitutional. Another four thought using race was necessary to correct centuries of injustice that excluded racial minorities from U.S. higher institutions. Justice Louis Powell, who was the deciding vote, agreed with both sides, however he thought that strict racial quotas as used by UC Davis were problematic. In the end the court agreed that use of race as one of many factors considered in the admissions process was permissible to correct the historical omission of these groups from U.S. higher education. The court ruled 8-1 in favor of Bakke ordering UC Davis to admit him but also setting the precedent for race to be used as one of many factors considered when deciding to admit students.

This 40-year precedent is now being challenged by Students for a Fair Admissions, an organization backed by conservative donors that sued both Harvard and University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. They allege that race-conscious admissions disproportionately exclude Asian-American students. Given the current conservative make-up of the court and the dynamics of the oral arguments last November, many court observers believe the Court is set to overturn the use of race as one of many factors in the admissions decision process.

How will this affect college admissions? It is unclear and speculative at this point, but many colleges are already preparing for this. One of the areas that will be affected is that colleges will not be able to continue outreach programs that specifically target racial minorities, encouraging them to apply to their colleges or funding programs that bring these students to visit campus. Some also think that the consideration of legacy (whether or not an applicant's family member had attended a particular college) in admissions may also be on the chopping block.

However there is a general consensus that if the Supreme Court overturns the consideration of race as a factor in admission there will be a decline in the number of racial minorities admitted to colleges and universities across the board.

Here at College Fully Funded, this set of developments has made us more resolute in our mission to democratize access to U.S. higher education especially for those historically excluded: first-generation, black, indigenous, people of color (BIPOC), immigrant, students from developing nations. We will continue to do what we do best to make sure that we educate families about how to get into college with full funding and avoid debt and do so at an affordable price. Our work will be even more important as funding for programs that do this will likely dwindle.

Announcements

Here are a couple of announcments.

Spring 2023 Session of the College Fully Funded Program

The Spring 2023 session of the College Full Funded Program is now open for enrollment.

• This cohort is for high school juniors and prospective transfer students looking to transfer to their dream college, including community college students and graduates looking to transfer to their dream 4-year college.
• These students will apply for admission in Fall 2023 for admission in Fall 2024.
• You can find details on the program's page.
• Early bird registration deadline that gives you $200 off is March 1.
• The Spring session begins April 2.

Ask Me Anything

Over the last couple of months in my emails and newsletters I have addressed questions I received from partipants who registered for the College Fully Funded webinar and info sessions.

How would you like an opportunity to ask me your own question directly? Over the next few months I will be hosting a series of ask-me-anything sessions. No fancy presentations, no frills. Just me answering your questions. The first one will be on Wednesday February 1, 2023 at 8pm ET (convert to your local time zone here). Come with any questions you have about undergraduate or graduate admissions.

If you are interested in attending the ask-me-anything session, let me know by clicking here and I will send you the zoom meeting details.

OK. I hope you have a great week and if you have any questions about anything I wrote about today please hit reply. If you have something you would like me to cover in a future newsletter, just hit reply and let me know.

To college fully funded,

Dr. Faith Okpotor

Founder and CEO, National Center for Higher Education Access

Award-winning academic and tenured professor

Sources

• ​Oyez: Regents of the University of California v. Bakke​
• ​If Affirmative Action Ends, College Admissions May Be Changed Forever​

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