Enrollments

Black first-year student applications submitted via Common App grew by 12 percent over the past year. During the 2024-2025 season, Black students represented 14.8 percent of the total applicant pool - a 0.8 percentage point increase from 2023-2024.

Colleges and universities that have eliminated test score requirements for admissions have generally increased their overall student diversity. However, those that have experienced institutional hardships and those that continue to prioritize test scores despite their optional policy have not seen a significant increase in their enrollment of students from underrepresented racial backgrounds.

For the fall 2025 semester, 210 freshman students are set to begin their undergraduate education at Simmons College. This will be largest freshman class in the HBCU's history.

Ahead of the fall 2025 semester, the University of California System has released preliminary data on in-state first-year students admitted to its nine undergraduate campuses. Overall, Black students represent 5.9 percent of all in-state admitted students, showing the greatest representation at the Los Angeles campus and the smallest representation at the Santa Barbara campus.

In an analysis of admissions data at 18 universities, research from the Urban Institute has found slight increases in Black students' applications and enrollment, while admittance rates have remained unchanged. However, at highly selective institutions, Black students' enrollment is decreasing, despite recent increases in their share of applications.

Across all major racial groups, Black students experienced the largest growth in both undergraduate and graduate enrollment, increasing by 10.3 percent and 8.7 percent, respectively, since spring 2024. Additionally, Black student enrollment in higher education has now surpassed pre-pandemic levels.

Roughly 52 percent of Black students applying to college through Common App express interest in majoring in STEMM disciplines. However, only 28 percent of these students go on to graduate with a STEMM degree within six years.

“The ongoing decline in Black male enrollment at HBCUs is a clarion call for action, and we will not stand idly by," said David Wilson, president of Morgan State University. "This task force will engage in rigorous research... to ensure that more Black men not only enroll at Morgan but thrive and complete their degrees."

In fall 2024, Winston-Salem State University enrolled 244 new graduate students, an increase of 31.2 percent from the prior year. The HBCU now enrolls nearly 600 graduate students.

In 2024, the share of Black applicants to U.S. medical schools increased by 2.8 percent from 2023. However, the share of Black medical school matriculants decreased by 11.6 percent. Notably, there has been year-over-year progress in overall Black medical school representation, which has risen to from 7.9 percent in 2017 to 10.3 percent in 2024.

In the fall of 2024, Black students made up 7.7 percent of all first-year students at law schools in the United States. Among the 2024 cohort of 3,060 entering Black students, 2,099 were women. Thus, women made up nearly 69 percent of all Black first-year law students.

This academic year, only 19 Black students enrolled in Harvard Law's first-year class. This is the lowest number of Black first-year law students at Harvard since 1965.

Among highly selective institutions, Black first-year student enrollment dropped by a staggering 16.9 percent this year, the sharpest drop of any major racial group. This was the first admissions cycle since the Supreme Court ended the use of race-sensitive admissions at colleges and universities.

Morgan State University in Baltimore, Prairie View A&M University in Texas, the University of the District of Columbia, and Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, have all reported significant increases in enrollments.

At historically Black Tennessee State University, overall enrollments are down by 23 percent. Most strikingly, enrollments of students in first-year programs are down by more than 50 percent.

According to the report, Black undergraduate enrollment increased by 6.2 percent over the past two years. In comparison, total undergraduate enrollment increased by 5.2 percent and White undergraduate enrollment decreased by 2.8 percent over the same time period.

In the aftermath of the June 29, 2023 United States Supreme Court decision banning the consideration of race in college admissions decisions, more high-ranking colleges and universities have reported a drop in Black enrollments for their entering classes this fall.

Since 1976, the share of Black student enrollment at HBCUs has increased by 15 percent, while the share of non-Black HBCU students increased by 117 percent. This has caused a decrease in Black students' overall representation at HBCUs, which has dropped from 85 percent in 1976 to 76 percent in 2022.

Many of the nation's historically Black colleges and universities had a record number of applicants this past admissions cycle. And many HBCUs have reported a significant increase in enrollments this fall.

Black enrollments at many of the nation's highest ranked universities are down significantly. But some top schools have been able to maintain a diverse student body despite the Supreme Court ban of race-sensitive admissions.