September 18, 2025
Data shows enrollment for Black and Latino students has decreased significantly.
For the last 50 years, Harvard University’s Undergraduate Minority Recruitment Program has encouraged minority high school students to apply. But as the Trump administration pressures higher education institutions to eliminate race in admissions and scholarships, Harvard quietly ended its minority recruitment program.
According to The Harvard Crimson, Harvard will connect prospective applicants with current undergraduates under a new program called Harvard Recruitment Ambassadors. Before the change, the UMRP guided minority middle and high school students through the school’s application process.
The program employed a team of undergraduate coordinators who answered students’ questions about the admissions process and life as a student. Undergraduate coordinators would reportedly travel to high schools in their hometowns to guide applications. They would also answer questions and give the number to a dedicated phone line for potential recruits.
With its new unified program, Harvard will still allow prospective applicants to contact current undergraduates with questions. Still, there will be no in-person outreach to high schools or specific student groups.
Harvard Ends Minority Recruitment Program As Trump Administration Cracks Down on Race Admissions
Harvard made the change quietly without public announcement, The Harvard Crimson reported. The changes come nearly two years after the Supreme Court ruled against Harvard’s controversial admissions process, which has been criticized for years. While the Supreme Court ruled against race-based admissions at universities, the high court did not eliminate recruitment programs as long as they were not solely based on race.
Since the Supreme Court’s decision banning affirmative action in college admissions, enrollment for Black and Latino students has decreased significantly. According to the Rennie Center Education Research & Policy, Black student enrollment at Harvard dropped from 18% in the fall of 2023 to 14% in the fall of 2024. The University of North Carolina saw a decrease in Black student enrollment from 10.5% to 7.8% within the same timeframe. Black and Hispanic student enrollment fell to 5%, compared to 15% the previous year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In its continued effort to target students from underrepresented backgrounds, the Trump administration recently announced that it will end $350 million in discretionary funding for colleges that serve large populations of minority-serving institutions.
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