New Report Offers Original Analysis of Asian Enrollment at Elite Schools

NEW YORK, NY — With the Supreme Court gearing up to hear cases related to affirmative action at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, it’s worth asking whether elite schools discriminate against Asian students. In a new analysis, Manhattan Institute fellow Robert VerBruggen provides an update on one type of evidence on which advocates have relied to contextualize this important conversation, using federal data to evaluate how Asian enrollment has fared at different types of colleges in the U.S. 

The Asian share of the college-age population has grown in recent decades, and one would expect this to be reflected in colleges’ student bodies. In the early 1990s, we saw just that—with the growth most pronounced at the most selective schools, reflecting the fact that Asian students outperform others on numerous academic metrics. Yet Asian enrollment stopped climbing at elite schools in the mid-1990s and plateaued for about 10 to 15 years thereafter. In the 2010s, however, as elite colleges’ treatment of Asians attracted increased attention, Asian enrollment started to rise again.  

While broad enrollment trends cannot prove discrimination at a specific school, the aggregate data are at least consistent with claims that elite schools in general worked to limit the number of Asian students admitted in order to avoid overly skewing their campuses’ racial balances—and perhaps backed away from this practice as the Harvard lawsuit and other efforts drew attention to the allegations. 

Click here to view the full report.