Selective U.S. colleges are boosting recruitment and aid for low-income students following the Supreme Court ban on race-conscious admissions. Institutions including Princeton, MIT, Amherst and Swarthmore report record or sharply higher shares of Pell-eligible freshmen, helped by both a federal Pell expansion and new institutional affordability policies. Colleges face a difficult balance: economic outreach has increased low-income representation even as some campuses saw declines in racial diversity and encountered federal scrutiny over whether income- or geography-based preferences act as racial proxies.
After Affirmative Action Ban, Elite Colleges Pivot Toward Economic Diversity
FILE - Nassau Hall at Princeton University is seen, Oct. 8, 2024, in Princeton, N.J. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)
Some of the nation’s most selective colleges are deliberately enrolling record shares of low-income students as they respond to the Supreme Court decision that barred race-conscious admissions. While wealthy applicants still make up a large portion of elite campuses, several institutions have stepped up outreach to underserved urban and rural areas and expanded free-tuition thresholds or targeted aid for families outside the highest income brackets.
Record Gains in Low-Income Enrollment
Early data from a subset of selective colleges show a clear trend: at least 17 highly selective institutions that published recent figures reported increases in students eligible for federal Pell Grants between 2023 and this year. Yale, Duke, Johns Hopkins and MIT are among those that set records for Pell-eligible freshmen in the past two years. Part of the rise reflects a federal expansion that broadened Pell eligibility, but college leaders say deliberate institutional efforts also played a major role.
Institutional Policies Driving Change
Several campuses have adopted bold affordability measures. Princeton reported that one in four members of this year’s freshman class is Pell-eligible, up from fewer than one in ten two decades ago. MIT says low-income students in its incoming class rose by 43 percent over two years and now make up more than a quarter of the class, crediting a policy that eliminates tuition for families earning under $200,000. Amherst now offers tuition-free education for students from the bottom 80 percent of U.S. earners and covers meals and housing for those below the median income; its low-income enrollment has steadily risen to one in four new students.
Admissions offices are also intensifying recruitment in overlooked ZIP codes and high schools, and some colleges have reduced on-campus costs such as laundry and textbook fees to make campus life more affordable for students with limited means.
Racial Diversity Trends
Administrators hoped that expanding economic access would help preserve racial diversity, since Black, Hispanic and Indigenous students are disproportionately represented among low-income groups. Yet some selective colleges that increased Pell-eligible enrollment have still seen declines in Black or Hispanic freshman shares. For example, Swarthmore reported a jump in Pell-eligible students from 17 percent to 30 percent, while its Black freshman share fell from 8 percent to 5 percent.
Legal and Political Scrutiny
The shift toward economic and geographic context has drawn attention from federal officials. The current administration has signaled that admissions preferences tied to income, ZIP code or high school could function as unlawful racial proxies under the Supreme Court's 2023 ruling. In June, federal officials accused UCLA of effectively conducting race-based admissions by weighing family income and neighborhood context. Earlier this year the College Board discontinued a data service that supplied neighborhood earnings and other contextual metrics to admissions offices, a move observers connected to heightened scrutiny of demographic data in admissions.
What This Means
Colleges say intentional, sustained effort is required to expand socioeconomic diversity. The newest figures suggest progress on that front, but institutions also face a complex trade-off: building economic diversity in a way that sustains gains in racial diversity while navigating heightened legal and political risk. Observers expect continued debate over whether class-based outreach can replace race-conscious practices without losing important elements of campus diversity.
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