Trump's Fresh Decree Mandates Universities to Hand Over Admission Details
In a significant move, President Donald Trump has issued a Presidential Memorandum on August 7, 2025, directing the Secretary of Education to require colleges and universities receiving federal financial aid to expand and improve reporting of admissions data. This directive aims to ensure transparency and accountability in higher education admissions following the 2023 Supreme Court ruling that ended race-conscious affirmative action.
Key details of Trump's order include:
- Expanding the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) to collect more detailed admissions data, including race, ethnicity, gender, high school GPA, and college entrance exam scores for applicants, not just enrolled students.
- Revamping the IPEDS online interface to make this data easily accessible and understandable to the public, including parents and students.
- Increasing accuracy checks and taking remedial actions on incomplete or inaccurate data submitted by institutions.
- Applying the requirement broadly to all higher education institutions receiving federal aid.
The aim for the expanded data collection is to verify that universities' admissions do not involve unlawful discrimination, based on a 2023 Supreme Court ruling that banned affirmative action in higher education. The administration claims this will protect fairness and ensure opportunities for all students without illegal discrimination.
However, experts and higher education scholars warn the new data collection may face significant challenges. The Education Department’s data office is reportedly under-resourced in staff, expertise, and funding to implement this expanded data collection effectively. Admissions data is complex and may be inaccurate or misinterpreted, potentially leading to misuse by policymakers. Selective colleges, which admit fewer than half their applicants, represent only a subset of institutions affected, but the order applies to all colleges receiving federal funds, creating a broad but uneven net.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has also made moves to end grants related to DEI efforts and has cut funding for the Digital Equity Act (DEA), which aimed to tackle digital equity gaps by supporting state and local efforts to build inclusive digital infrastructure and skills programs. The administration has also issued a new order to roll back DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) in the US.
In a separate development, lawyers for the Trump administration have made an emergency application to allow the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to scrap millions of grants related to DEI initiatives. Brown University and Columbia University have agreed to disclose data on the race, grade point average, and standardized test scores of applicants, admitted students, and enrolled students to the Trump administration. The disclosure of data by these universities was to restore federal grants awarded to both institutions.
President Trump has signed a new order requiring universities to share detailed data on the demographics of their incoming classes each year. The order includes a request for the Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, to "increase accuracy checks for data submitted by institutions" into the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. The order involves a "revamp" of the department's Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System.
The impact of this order is intended to verify compliance with the Supreme Court decision that forbids race-based admissions preferences and to expose the use of potential racial proxies such as diversity statements or other indirect methods. The administration claims this will protect fairness and ensure opportunities for all students without illegal discrimination. However, the success of this order depends on overcoming institutional reporting challenges and data quality issues.
Read also:
- Embracing the release of emotions may significantly impact your existence, asserted by Camilo
- Develop a Successful Strategy for Your Craft Enterprise
- University workers are urged to go on strike by GEW (Gesupporterd Onderwijs Figurenvereniging)
- "Melaye Stands by His Resilient Bond with Atiku, Affirming He Remains Firm in His Personal Principles"
