Harvard’s first-year undergraduate class this year has a smaller percentage of Black and Hispanic students than last fall, according to new data released by the college Thursday.
Black students comprise 11.5% of this year’s freshman class, compared to 14% of last year’s. Hispanic students comprise 11%, compared to 16% a year ago.
This year’s figures suggest continuing impacts from the June 2023 Supreme Court decision banning race-based admissions in higher education.
Harvard, which was at the center of that case, also reported a decline in Black student enrollment last year during what was the first admissions cycle following the high court’s ruling.
“ The clearest trend line is that African American students are not getting into these most highly selective institutions at the same rate as they were before the Supreme Court decision,” said James Murphy, of the education policy think tank Education Reform Now.
The share of first-year Asian American students at Harvard, meanwhile, rose to 41%, compared to 37% last fall. The school didn’t include information for white students in its data.
Nationally, the number of selective schools that have reported new admissions data so far has slowed to a trickle compared to this time last year, according to Murphy, who is tracking the data. More than half of the institutions that released demographic enrollment data last year have not publicly announced the makeup of their first-year classes this year yet, he found.
Among Harvard’s new freshman class of 1,675 students, 8% of students did not self-identify their race. Harvard calculates race data based on a total denominator of students self-reporting race — rather than total class size — according to a new methodology that was implemented last year, the Harvard Crimson reports.
That means the percentage of Black and Hispanic students as a share of the overall first-year class may be even lower than officially reported by the school. A Harvard spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
There were minimal changes in other student subgroups for this year’s incoming class.
The percentage of international students is 15%, a figure that has been steady the last two years. The students come from 92 countries and had a “yield rate” — percentage of students who chose to enroll — of 90%, the school said in a release. It added that only eight first-year international students chose to defer admission. The school extended more flexible options to international students last spring following the Trump administration’s attempts to deny Harvard’s ability to enroll international students — though a court blocked the policy.
“The Class of 2029 were drawn from big cities and small towns, suburbs and farms, and from nations around the world, and all students no matter where they’re from, where they went to high school or what their personal circumstances might be, were admitted to Harvard because they share the extraordinary potential to change the world,” William Fitzsimmons, Harvard Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, said in Thursday’s announcement.
This was also the first entering class at Harvard for which a standardized test score on the SAT or ACT was an application requirement following a test-optional period during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The total number of applicants dipped from previous years. Harvard said it received roughly 47,900 applications, and extended offers to 2,003 candidates, for an admit rate of just 4%.
Last year, 54,000 people applied, and three years ago, the number of applicants hit 61,000.
One thing Murphy, of Education Reform Now, added the public doesn’t know from Harvard’s data is how many students from certain demographics applied and their admission rates.
“ When we’re looking at enrollment numbers, we’re looking at the end of a fairly long and complex process,” he pointed out.
The school also said 45% of this year’s entering class will be attending tuition-free after the school expanded financial aid eligibility to students whose families earn up to $200,000 a year, a news release said. About one-fifth of this year’s freshman class are also the first in their families to attend college, the same proportion as last year’s class.
“Even amid shifting economic realities, our commitment to access and opportunity remains unwavering,” Harvard Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Hopi Hoekstra said in a statement. “That nearly half of this class will attend Harvard tuition-free fills me with immense pride and optimism for the future they will help shape.”
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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