What do college-bound students think of DEI efforts?

The majority of college-bound high school seniors — 80%  — either strongly or somewhat want to attend a college that “supports students of all races and ethnicities,” according to a recent poll that examines student views and beliefs concerning diversity, equity and inclusion policies and programming in higher education. 

The poll — conducted by Art & Science Group, a Baltimore-based consulting firm — surveyed about 1,500 high school seniors in May through July. 

Of those who were college-bound, it found that 61% “strongly” wanted to attend an institution where students of all races and ethnicities are supported, and 19% “somewhat” wanted to attend such a college.

Additionally, 76% either strongly or somewhat agreed that belonging was “just as important as academics” when choosing a college, according to the poll. And nearly two-thirds of students, 61%, expressed at least some concerns about threats to DEI efforts on campus. 

However, the poll also found that how a college supports or prioritizes DEI is “not a decisive driver of college choice for most students.” The survey found only 23% of college-bound students sought out DEI information.

For Michelle Samura, a researcher who specializes in student belonging on campus, the poll’s findings show that support for students from all backgrounds is “something that they want from their college.”

“The ramifications for those institutions is that there would be an expectation among students entering those spaces of some type of support and welcoming environment,” said Samura, who is dean of arts, humanities and social sciences at Santiago Canyon College in Orange, California.

However, Samura added, what that support will look like in the current political and social climate — where the Trump administration is rooting out DEI efforts on campus, arguing they’re discriminatory and unlawful— is unclear.

Meanwhile,  the poll found that 44% of students believe colleges can consider race in admissions, even though the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the practice in 2023.

Matthew Mayhew, a higher education professor at Ohio State University, said it is not surprising that a substantial share of students still think colleges can consider race in admissions, as the federal ban on the practice is relatively new.

Or, some students might sense that various questions colleges may ask about “resilience” during the admission process are just a “coded way for admissions people” to consider race “without stating that they’re looking for that issue and violating the law,” Mayhew said. 

As for how students choose a college and what they expect once they arrive on campus, Mayhew said most base their decisions on what they can afford, their parents’ beliefs, or which would be the “best branded institutions” as reflected in college rankings and the like. 

Students come to campus open, wondering what they will learn and what the experience will be about, Mayhew said.

“They have no sort of idea about what to actually expect by way of what the instructors are going to say in class, about what the curriculum is going to offer,” he said.

Samura, the college dean, said she found it interesting that the poll’s methodology showed that only 642 of the 1,481 high schoolers surveyed intended to attend a four-year college full time in fall 2025. The survey report did not indicate the plans of the remaining survey respondents.

But given that more than half of the students didn’t plan to attend a four-year college, Samura said, “That makes me wonder: Is there a broader question of belonging and higher ed?”