In 2023, the Supreme Court banned affirmative action in college admissions, a program designed to increase opportunities for disadvantaged groups. After the decision, experts warned that this change could potentially erase decades of diversity on college campuses across the country. 

To combat this initially, colleges and universities tried a variety of strategies, such as requiring applicants to write more essays or boosting recruiting in racially diverse areas,  hoping to maintain diversity that they state is essential to their campuses.

Two years after the fact, some of the most prestigious colleges have resorted to enrolling low-income students. These colleges are known for being surrounded by wealth. However, in an effort to increase campus diversity, they have attempted to reach a wider range of students, going as far as to offer free tuition for students whose families are lower-income.  

At Princeton University, currently one in four students are eligible for federal Pell Grants, which are scholarships reserved for the neediest students, compared to 20 years ago when fewer than one in 10 were eligible. 

In addition, Yale, Duke, John Hopkins and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have all set records for Pell-grant enrollments.

This effort to increase collegiate diversity may lead to conflict with the federal government since the Trump administration has pulled funding from multiple colleges, claiming that it is illegal to target needier students. 

Only a small fraction of colleges have released reports of their low-income enrollment, and the federal government will not release related data until next year. However, experts are already seeing a trend.

Many universities hope that focusing on economic diversity will help to preserve racial diversity since Black, Hispanic and Indigenous Americans have the highest poverty rates. However, even with this hope in mind, many colleges have seen a decrease in racial diversity throughout their campuses.

Over the next few years, it is likely colleges and universities will develop new tactics to increase their campus diversity especially if the federal government implements new laws trying to restrict their ability to do so.