How Will Last Week’s Supreme Court Rulings Change College Admissions? Six Articles to Help You Understand the Landmark Decisions
This week, the Supreme Court issued landmark rulings on two pivotal cases in higher education — the first concerning President Biden’s proposal to cancel student loans and the other pertaining to Harvard and UNC’s use of race-conscious admissions.
Thursday morning, the Court ruled against Harvard and UNC, ending race-conscious admissions in higher education and raising critical questions about the future of elite college admissions. Today, the conservative supermajority shot down President Biden’s sweeping student debt relief plan, which would have impacted over 26 million borrowers nationwide.
As the CEO of Command Education, a leading private college admissions consultancy, Christopher Rim has been contacted by more than five national publications this week to share his thoughts about how these landmark rulings will impact the landscape of higher education:
- New York Post: Fair Admissions Doesn’t Exist — Let’s Stop Searching For It
In an op-ed for the New York Post, Christopher Rim argues that admissions at elite universities cannot be fair and equitable because they were not designed to be.
“Instead of trying to change the rules of the game, we need to teach applicants to be better players,” Rim writes.
- Wall Street Journal: Some Schools See Opening in Affirmative-Action Ruling
From the article:
“Within an hour of the decision, Asian-American clients began calling Christopher Rim, founder and CEO of Command Education in New York, which counsels students for college admissions.
Rim said the first call came from a Korean-American student who said he wanted to broaden his list of schools to include some in the Ivy League — a range he had previously not thought he would try.
‘I think this will motivate a lot of students to reach even higher,’ Rim said. He added that he would no longer council students to play down their Asian identity.”
CNBC: What the Supreme Court’s decision on affirmative action at colleges means for future applicants
From the article:
“I do think the makeup of the schools is going to change drastically” …Rim predicts that the Supreme Court’s decision could encourage colleges to put more weight on students’ household income and their regional background to diversify their student bodies.”
From the article:
“College is an opportunity for students to encounter opposing viewpoints and hear from people who are different from them, says Christopher Rim, CEO and founder of Command Education, an admissions consulting company. ‘You want a diverse opinion. You want people who have different experiences than you. I think that’s going to be lost.’
But ‘at the same time, you want to be able to get into a school because of your merit, not because of your race,’ he adds. ‘There are too many students who are ‘similar’ or have very similar academic and extracurricular activities. So there’s no way to really say what the right decision is. It’s very complicated. But the decision was made and now we have to figure out how we’re going to move forward from here.’”
“In a decision that bodes consequences for 26 million borrowers across the country, the Supreme Court has ruled against President Joe Biden’s student debt forgiveness plan.
The plan, announced in August 2022, promised up to $20,000 in debt forgiveness for individuals with annual incomes below $125,000 (and households under $250,000) who received Pell Grants and up to $10,000 for individuals in those income ranges who did not receive Pell Grants. Ultimately, the plan would have cost over $400 billion.”
“As the end of affirmative action reverberates through higher education, colleges and universities — including Ivy League and other elite institutions — are bracing for the impact of the Supreme Court’s landmark decision. Many have already begun the process of exploring alternative means of making their admissions processes more equitable without affirmative action.”
