How college enrollment is changing at Philly's top universities
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Admissions to colleges and universities in the Philly region are undergoing a big racial shift following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to strike down race-based admissions in 2023, per a new analysis.
Why it matters: The recent report from the nonprofit Class Action gives the first nationwide glimpse of how enrollment at public and private institutions has shifted post-ruling.
State of play: The University of Pennsylvania saw a drop in Black and Hispanic enrollment in 2024, along with a significant drop in white students — the first freshman class after the Supreme Court's ruling.
- Meanwhile, those underrepresented students of color saw their numbers rise elsewhere — including at Temple, Drexel and St. Joseph's universities.
The big picture: Admissions to Philly colleges appear to reflect national trends.
- ⬇️ Highly selective schools, like Ivy Plus schools, saw declines in underrepresented students of color, particularly Black students, per the report.
- ⬆️ Those students of color saw their numbers increase nearly everywhere else.
By the numbers: In 2024, Penn saw its Black enrollment dip from 9.4% to 8.6%, and Hispanic enrollment declined from 11.5% to 11.3%.
- But at Temple University, the Black student population rose to 29.7% in 2024, up from 20.9% the year before, and Hispanic students rose to 12.6% from 11.4%.
Worth noting: Penn saw a smaller decline in the number of students of color than other top-flight schools.
How it works: Class Action's analysis uses federal enrollment data released in January and includes more than 3,000 colleges and universities.
Worth noting: The Supreme Court's ruling forced universities to create a new process for further diversity in their student bodies, while putting a renewed focus on admission essays and standardized tests.
The caveat: James Murphy, senior fellow for Class Action and lead researcher on the report, tells Axios that the reasons behind these enrollment changes remain unclear.
- That's because the admissions process at each school is not publicly revealed, and the report is based on a single year of data.
- "We can say what happened; it's very hard to say why it happened," he said.
Between the lines: Murphy noted that Penn may benefit from the Supreme Court ruling.
- Murphy says that students of color who may now not get into even more prestigious schools — think Harvard, Yale, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — may look to Penn as a more reliable choice.
- "Penn has to work harder to get the most competitive students in the country," he said.
The intrigue: In 2024, Penn saw the students who didn't report their race or ethnicity nearly double from the previous year— increasing 8.1% from 4.7%.
- Murphy noted that many highly selective schools saw a similar rise, which makes it more difficult to know the true racial makeup of a class.
- For example: Penn's sharp drop in white students last year — hitting 21.9% from 25% in 2024 — could not be occurring if a big chunk of those students who didn't report their race were white.
- "What we don't know is who chose not to report their race," he said.
What they're saying: Kevin Gfeller, a spokesperson for St. Joe's, tells Axios that the university saw a surge of first-year enrollment in 2024 (up 11%) over the previous year, which he credited with recent acquisitions and new programs.
- He added that St. Joe's didn't alter its admissions practices after the Supreme Court ruling
- Penn declined to comment. Temple, Drexel and St. Joseph's did not respond to Axios' request for comment.