By Donald Gilpin

Princeton University has welcomed 1,411 first-year students in the Class of 2028, the first class admitted following the Supreme Court’s June 2023 decision banning race-conscious affirmative action in college admissions. Comparative numbers reveal little change in racial diversity from other recent first-year classes.

In a statement released at the time of the Court’s decision, Princeton University President Christopher L. Eisgruber emphasized the importance of having a diverse student body and stated that Princeton would “work vigorously to preserve — and indeed grow — the diversity of our community while fully respecting the law as announced today.”

Compared to the University’s statistics on last year’s entering class, this year’s class includes 23.8 percent self-identified as Asian-Americans, as opposed to 26 percent last year; 9 percent Hispanic or Latino vs. 10 percent last year; 8.9 percent Black or African American, vs. 9 percent last year; 7.2 percent multiracial vs. 7 percent last year; and 31.3 percent white, a demographic which has not been included as a category in past reports.

In its pursuit of diversity, the University also enrolled 36 undergraduate transfer students, the largest number of transfers since the program’s reinstatement in 2018. The Princeton transfer program seeks to enroll more students from military and community college backgrounds, with 23 of this year’s transfers having served in the U.S. military and 26 having transferred from community colleges.

A September 4 University press release also reported that 16.3 percent, as opposed to 17 percent last year, of the first-year class are first-generation college students and 11.2 percent, vs.13 percent last year, are children of alumni.

Financial aid at Princeton continues to expand, with 71.5 percent of first-year students qualifying for financial aid and 21.7 percent of the class comprised of lower income students who are eligible for federal Pell Grants.

Princeton’s financial aid program “is known as one of the most generous in the country,” the press release reports. Most families with incomes up to $100,000 a year pay nothing, and many families with incomes up to and even beyond $300,000 receive grant aid.

The press release notes that this financial aid program, along with the current four-year undergraduate expansion that will increase the student body by 500 students, “will ensure that more talented students from all backgrounds have access to a Princeton education.”

Other statistics released by the University report that the first-year students come from 48 states and Washington, D.C., and from 56 different countries.

Many highly selective universities have not yet released statistics on the demographics of their first-year classes following the ban on affirmative action. The New York Times has reported significant drops in Black students at Amherst College, Tufts University, and M.I.T., and a sharp decline in enrollment of new Black and Hispanic students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, but whether this is a pattern or a one-year change is unclear.

Princeton University continues its efforts towards diversity while complying with the Supreme Court’s ruling. “It’s important to note that our admissions team continues to broaden its outreach to potential applicants to encourage the most talented students from across society to consider Princeton,” said University spokesperson Jennifer Morrill as quoted in the The Daily Princetonian student newspaper.

“Princeton’s holistic admissions process carefully adheres to the limits set out by the Supreme Court in the Students in the Students for Fair Admission v. Harvard College and University of North Carolina cases,” the University press release states.