The Department of Education announced Thursday that all colleges and universities 
Education Secretary Linda McMahon
Education Secretary Linda McMahon directed the National Center for Education Statistics to expand its data collection requirements through the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, which already tracks enrollment and financial information from more than 6,000 institutions nationwide.
Under the new mandate, universities must report race-disaggregated data on their applicant pools, admitted students, and enrolled cohorts at both undergraduate and graduate levels. The reports must include standardized test scores, GPAs, and other academic metrics organized by demographic categories.
"We will not allow institutions to blight the dreams of students by presuming that their skin color matters more than their hard work and accomplishments," McMahon said in a statement announcing the directive.
The change implements President Trump's January memorandum calling for transparency in college admissions following the Supreme Court's 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which ruled that race-conscious admissions violate federal civil rights law.
Previously, the federal data system required only enrollment numbers by race, not application or admission statistics. The expanded reporting will enable government oversight of whether schools are complying with the affirmative action ban.
Universities have until the next IPEDS reporting cycle to implement the new data collection, typically due each fall. Non-compliance could jeopardize institutions' eligibility for federal student aid programs, which processed $120 billion in loans and grants last academic year.
