Trump Tells Colleges to Share Student Info

President Trump has made a new rule that colleges must report more information about the students who apply. This includes each student’s race, gender, test scores, and grades. The goal is to check if colleges are giving unfair help to certain groups, which the Supreme Court said in 2023 they mostly can’t do anymore.

Some people support this rule. They say it will help make college admissions fairer. They believe schools may still be using race to choose students, and this data could help stop that.

But many others are upset about the rule. They think it could hurt Black and Hispanic students by scaring colleges away from accepting them. Justin Driver, a law professor, said the rule is part of a larger attack on higher education and could stop schools from helping students who need support. “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,” is what Linda McMahon said in a statement.

Some experts say the rule is not fair because it doesn’t ask for all the right information. For example, it doesn’t ask whether a student’s family donated money to the school or if the student’s parents went there. These things can also give students an unfair advantage.

Another expert, Richard Kahlenberg, said the rule doesn’t ask about students’ family income. He explained that this is important because low-income students often have lower test scores, and many of them are Black or Hispanic. Without that information, it might look like colleges are breaking the rules, even if they’re not.

Colleges that get money from the government must follow rules like this, but some schools may still fight back. They might say the rule goes against student privacy or puts too much pressure on schools.

This new rule is part of a bigger fight about who gets into college and why. Some people think it will help make things more fair, but others believe it could make it harder for students from poor or minority backgrounds to get into higher education.