The Affirmative Action Ban Cascade: Where Affirmative Action Bans Have Displaced Underrepresented Minority Students

• In Event: 1404 - Affirmative Action and Anti-Discrimination Policy

Abstract

Prior studies have shown that affirmative action bans have led to decreases in 4-year college enrollment and college completion for underrepresented minority students and no changes at 2-year colleges, but have yet to pinpoint where these underrepresented minority students (URM) have been displaced. This study investigates where the displaced URM students have gone. Have they foregone higher education entirely, have they been funneled into for-profit colleges, or both? Using data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education System and the Current Population Survey, this paper applies a difference in differences methodology to find that affirmative action bans have decreased the proportion underrepresented minority persons not earning a bachelor’s degree and increased the proportion of underrepresented minority students at for-profit schools. These findings compliment prior findings that have illustrated where declines in the proportion of URM occur in higher education. The results of this study imply that URM students may be worse off than previously thought. While increasing the probability of going to college is generally thought of as beneficial, it may paradoxically come at the expense of increased enrollment at for-profit institutions that have the potential to hinder the life chances of URMs.

Author

• David Antonio Mickey-Pabello, Harvard University