Three years after the Supreme Court ended race-based affirmative action in college admissions, some of the nation’s most selective universities continue to see sharp shifts in the racial makeup of their freshman classes.

Harvard University, with an acceptance rate of about 4%, was the latest to release data this week. The data showed the proportion of Asian American freshmen undergraduates rose to 43% this fall, a tick up from 41% in last year’s freshman class and 37% in 2023 and 2024.

The percentage of Harvard’s incoming Black students has fallen by nearly half since the Supreme Court decision, according to the data, which was published by the university’s admissions office Tuesday.

In 2023, Black students made up 18% of the freshman class. In 2024, the first year that reflected new admissions procedures, they made up 14%. Black students comprise 9.3% of this year’s freshman class, a drop of 2 percentage points from last year.

Hispanic or Latino students make up 11.4% of this year’s entering class, about the same as last year’s percentage. Hispanic or Latino students made up 16% of incoming freshmen two years ago.

Other highly selective universities, such as Yale, have seen similar shifts, although others, including Princeton and Amherst, saw slight jumps in the percentage of Black students enrolling this year, school data show.

The trends at Harvard and other elite institutions represent a major shift in the types of students gaining access to schools that remain some of the country’s most effective springboards to financial and political power. The shifts are celebrated by conservatives who had argued that race-based affirmative action had disadvantaged those who deserved admission based on merit.

Universities, while adamant they’re complying with the law, have argued that they still are seeking to create diverse classes that look like America. Schools and other supporters of affirmative action have argued that diversity improves education for all students and helps ensure that the nation’s leadership, from Supreme Court justices to chief executives, is representative.

The 2023 Supreme Court decision was based on a lawsuit filed on behalf of Asian American students who complained that the elite university’s admissions policies discriminated against them. Evidence disclosed during the trial in the case revealed that while Asian American applicants had submitted higher test scores, they had consistently received lower personality ratings, a subjective assessment made by admissions officers.

Edward Blum, who heads Students for Fair Admissions, the organization that brought the lawsuit, said in an email that the shifts in demographics at Harvard provide “powerful evidence that Harvard used race as a primary factor in its decisions for decades.”

He also urged Congress to require that universities fully disclose admissions data by race and academic qualification. Under the Trump administration, the Education Department has sought to collect such data, but the effort is stalled after some states sued to block it.

Richard D. Kahlenberg, who had testified as an expert for plaintiffs in the case and favors efforts to increase socioeconomic diversity, said the large drop in Black students was avoidable.

“Harvard’s old model was to give large racial preference to upper middle class Black and Hispanic students,” Kahlenberg, who heads a program at the Progressive Policy Institute, said in an email. He said the university should do more to open its doors to highly qualified working class students.

A spokesperson for Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the division that oversees undergraduates, declined to comment Wednesday on demographic changes in enrollment.

Other highly competitive universities saw similar demographic shifts as they changed their admissions processes following the Supreme Court decision.

However, some less selective schools have seen increases in Black and Latino enrollment during the same period.

An analysis last year by the organization Class Action revealed that some state schools received students who might otherwise have attended top-ranked universities.

At Yale University, according to preliminary numbers, Asian Americans make up about 33% of the freshman class, a climb from 30% last year. Two years ago, Asian Americans were 24% of the class.

Black student enrollment is falling at Yale: 10% of the class of 2030 self-reported as Black, down from 12% last year and 14% two years ago.

The proportion of Hispanic or Latino students has also dropped, to 12% this year, from 19% two years ago.

It can be hard to compare enrollment data among schools. Not all colleges and universities have reported their numbers yet. More students have stopped reporting their race — about 9% of incoming Harvard freshmen declined to say — and students who report multiple races, a growing population, also complicate the findings. While some elite schools have seen striking shifts in the racial makeup of their classes, others have stayed the same.

The demographic information for the class of 2030 trickling out from other highly selective schools also contains some surprises.

Princeton University, which has touted its socioeconomic diversity and enhanced financial aid packages, released figures showing that Black enrollment rebounded this year to 8.9% of the freshman class — roughly the same as it was before the Fair Admissions decision. Last year, Black enrollment was 5%.

Asian American students made up 23% of the class, down slightly from 24.2% before the Fair Admissions decision.

Amherst College saw sharp declines in its Black enrollment in the class of 2028, the first admitted after the Supreme Court decision. That year, only 3% of Amherst’s first-year class was Black. The Amherst Student, the campus newspaper, reported last week that this fall’s Black student enrollment is 9%. Hispanic enrollment also increased.

Black enrollment had reached 11% at Amherst before the Supreme Court decision.

At Columbia University, an Ivy League school that maintained “test optional” policies for the class of 2030, class demographics remained little changed this year. (It reinstated its test requirement for the coming admissions cycle.)

Black student enrollment increased slightly to 13% of Columbia’s incoming class this year, compared with 12% last year. Asian and Hispanic student enrollment remained steady at 39% and 19%, respectively.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Mark Arsenault and Stephanie Saul/Lucy Lu
c. 2026 The New York Times Company