What the Students for Fair Admissions Cases Reveal about Racial Preferences

Arbeitspapier

Using detailed admissions data made public in the SFFA v. Harvard and SFFA v. UNC cases, we examine how racial preferences for under-represented minorities (URMs) affect their admissions to Harvard and UNC-Chapel Hill. At Harvard, the admit rates for typical African American applicants are on average over four times larger than if they had been treated as white. For typical Hispanic applicants the increase is 2.4 times. At UNC, preferences vary substantially by whether the applicant is in-state or out-of-state. For in-state applicants, racial preferences result in an over 70% increase in the African American admit rate. For out-of-state applicants, the increase is more than tenfold. Both universities provide larger racial preferences to URMs from higher socioeconomic backgrounds.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 15240

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Higher Education; Research Institutions ; Education and Inequality ; Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
• Subject: higher education ; college admissions ; affirmative action

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Arcidiacono, Peter ; Kinsler, Josh ; Ransom, Tyler
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2022

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/263456
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET