McMahon orders federal audit of universities' admissions data to root out racial bias
Declaring that 'meritocracy and excellence' must again define American higher education, US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon on Thursday ordered the government's chief education statistics arm to collect unprecedented levels of admissions data from universities, aiming to expose and eliminate race-based preferences.
The directive to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) marks a significant expansion of federal oversight, coming directly on the heels of President Donald Trump's memorandum calling for greater transparency in admissions practices.
A new level of disclosure
Colleges and universities will now be required to break down their applicant, admitted, and enrolled student data by race and sex, not just for undergraduates but for certain graduate and professional programmes.
The reporting will go beyond headcounts, demanding hard metrics: Standardized test scores, GPAs, and other academic credentials of each group.
McMahon said the change was designed to cut through years of secrecy that have shielded admissions decisions from public view as states in a press release.
'It should not take years of legal proceedings and millions of dollars in litigation fees, to elicit data from taxpayer-funded institutions that identify whether they are discriminating against hardworking American applicants,' she said in a press release, referencing the Students for Fair Admissions v.
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Harvard case that pulled back the curtain on elite admissions practices.
Audits and accountability
NCES will also design a rigorous audit process to ensure universities report their data accurately and consistently. The information will feed into the existing Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), which already tracks enrollment and finances at federally funded institutions.
Until now, IPEDS has only collected racial demographics for enrolled students, a narrow snapshot that left the admissions gatekeeping process largely in the dark.
Legal backdrop
The Supreme Court's 2023 decision in SFFA v. Harvard struck down racial preferencing in admissions, ruling it a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the Equal Protection Clause. Evidence in that case showed Harvard engaged in 'extreme racial preferencing,' a finding that ignited fresh political and legal challenges across the country.
By expanding the scope of federal data collection, the Department of Education is positioning itself to enforce the court's ruling not through lawsuits, but through regularized, nationwide reporting.
What's at stake
The move raises the stakes for universities that rely on federal student aid; compliance with IPEDS is a condition of receiving Title IV funding. It also puts institutions under the microscope of both the federal government and the public, which will soon have the tools to see if qualified candidates are being passed over in favour of others based on race.
For the Trump administration, the message is blunt: No more 'hidden math' in admissions. For colleges, it signals an era in which the cost of opacity could be far higher than the political fallout of transparency.
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