The Department of Education will require all four-year higher education institutions — including Penn — to submit demographic, academic, and financial data on applicants.
The “Admissions and Consumer Transparency Supplement” will require colleges and universities to submit information on race, sex, academic performance, family income, and Pell Grant eligibility of incoming students, according to an Aug. 13 notice published in the Federal Register. According to the notice, the survey is meant to address concerns that “unlawful practices” may persist in admissions after the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision overturning affirmative action.
A University spokesperson wrote in a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian that Penn “will adhere to all laws and federal regulations.”
The Education Department is acting on an Aug. 7 presidential memorandum signed by 1968 Wharton graduate and President Donald Trump, which directed Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to gather data to “provide adequate transparency” into the role of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in college admissions.
In the memo, Trump requested that McMahon “expand the scope of required reporting” under the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, a series of surveys conducted by the federal government to gather data on postsecondary institutions. The new survey will take the form of an additional supplement to IPEDS.
The survey will require institutions to submit data on both undergraduate and graduate applicants. It is unlikely to affect community colleges and trade schools, which the notice described as having “minimal or no risk for civil rights noncompliance in admissions.”
The 2025-26 edition of the survey will additionally require institutions to submit data on applicants, admitted students, and enrollees for the past five academic years in order to “establish a baseline of admissions practices” prior to the overturning of affirmative action.
According to the notice, the supplement aims to rectify the federal government’s “limited” ability to “ensure widespread compliance” in college admissions with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits race-based discrimination in institutions receiving federal financial assistance.
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The survey resembles the provisions of recent Trump administration settlements over federal funding with Columbia University and Brown University, which required both universities to pay fines, turn over data on applicants, and commit to not considering race or national origin in the admissions process. The agreements also struck at the universities’ DEI programs, mandating that the schools “shall not maintain programs that promote unlawful efforts to achieve race-based outcomes, quotas, diversity targets, or similar efforts.”
The Trump administration is reportedly close to a deal with Harvard University, which could result in Harvard paying $500 million in fines to restore its federal funding. Harvard President Alan Garber denied that the university was willing to pay $500 million in a settlement, telling a faculty member that the reports were “false.”
The White House is also seeking a provision in the deal that will require Harvard to submit racial data on applicants, according to The New York Times.
