The Anti-Affirmative Action Avalanche: The Rise of Underrepresented Minority Enrollment at For-Profit Institutions.

This article examines the broader impacts of state-level affirmative action bans on underrepresented minority (URM) student enrollment across U.S. undergraduate postsecondary institutions, using data from 1991 to 2016. Employing a differences-in-differences approach, the study finds that while URM enrollment declined at the most selective public and private four-year institutions, a small group of large for-profit colleges experienced significant increases in URM enrollment, suggesting these institutions became alternative destinations for displaced students. The analysis also shows no significant change in URM enrollment at two-year colleges or evidence that URM students were entirely displaced from higher education. The findings highlight how affirmative action bans contribute to a racialized stratification in higher education, redirecting URM students from selective institutions toward lower-quality or for-profit schools, some of which have been criticized for aggressive recruitment and poor student outcomes.