Affirmative action has been in place for decades, but the policy is now up for debate, and the Supreme Court is preparing to decide if it should become illegal nationwide. This is already the precedent in some areas of the country, including Arizona, California, Florida, Idaho, Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Washington. These states have already outlawed using affirmative action when making admission-related decisions. 

But if it becomes illegal everywhere, then what? Will it negatively affect Black high school students who have their eyes on higher education? 

Here are two interesting bits of data to point out:

WITH affirmative action policies in place in most states, “very little progress has been made since 2000” in terms of public colleges that are still inaccessible for Black and Latino undergraduates, according to this nonprofit Education Trust report. In fact, the percentage of Black students has decreased “by nearly 60% at the 101 most selective public colleges and universities.”

WITHOUT affirmative action policies in place - as in the case of the University of Michigan and the University of California, Black student enrollment is exceedingly low. Out of the 6,981 Freshmen entering Berkeley in 2021, just 258 were Black students. Despite the college’s efforts to reach out and build a diverse student body (and spending millions of dollars), their efforts have been in vain.

Obviously, these two studies don’t represent the issue as a whole - but perhaps it points to the more significant (and more honest) problem. Why does it continue to be so difficult for Black students to gain enrollment into selective colleges and universities?