The Middlebury College campus in Vermont’s Addison County. Photo courtesy of Middlebury CollegeAs higher education leaders wrestle with a ban on affirmative action in college admissions, preliminary enrollment data from at least one Vermont college shows a decrease in enrolled students of color. But with only a year of data to go on, experts are urging caution on drawing conclusions.In a historic ruling in June 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court strictly limited how universities may consider race and ethnicity in admissions practices, effectively ending 45 years of affirmative action.The court’s 6-3 ruling found that such admissions practices violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.Leaders of area colleges continue to examine how these court decisions might affect student diversity and equal access to higher education. Demographics shared from this year’s incoming classes show a decrease in the number of students of color enrolled at Middlebury College and the number of Asian American students enrolled at Dartmouth College.Preliminary fall enrollment data provided to VTDigger shows Middlebury reported the lowest rate of first-year students of color in a decade. About 26% of the enrolled class of 2028 self-identified as students of color, compared to 37% for the class of 2027.Middlebury College President Laurie Patton acknowledged the change in a recent piece on the college’s website. “While we are disappointed in the decline in enrolled students of color in Middlebury’s entering class, we are not deterred in pursuing our educational mission. We know that diversity of perspectives and backgrounds drives excellence,” she said. “Other colleges and universities are experiencing similar results, as this first year is a learning experience for all of us in higher education.” Meanwhile, Dartmouth College in New Hampshire reported a slight overall increase in diversity — but the exact outcome varied by racial group. While enrollment of those identifying as Hispanic or Latino increased by 3 percentage points, the percentage of Black and Native American students declined slightly.Overall, the private Ivy League school reported that students from “underrepresented backgrounds” increased 2 percentage points to 28% of its first-year class. Unlike Middlebury, Dartmouth excluded Asian Americans from that “underrepresented” category. When Dartmouth’s decline in Asian American enrollment is taken into account, its percent of students of color actually remained flat from 2023 to 2024.Asian American groups were part of the push to overturn affirmative action policies, arguing that they are often disadvantaged by such policies.Middlebury and Dartmouth were among the colleges that signed amici curiae briefs in support of Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, the defendants in two affirmative action cases last year.The Supreme Court decision is forcing colleges to become more creative, experts say, about attracting students from more diverse backgrounds and about offering financial aid and scholarship packages that are going to be supportive of them.“Frankly, we’ve been anticipating this for years,” said Kenny Nienhusser, associate professor in the higher education program at the University of Connecticut. “What I think the affirmative action decision has really done is have colleges continue to rethink recruitment.”During the admissions process this year, Dartmouth officials, for example, masked responses related to racial identity to comply with the recent limitations of the law and did not look at those responses until student attendance was finalized in mid-June.“The Class of 2028 is the most socioeconomically diverse class in Dartmouth’s history,” said Lee Coffin, vice president and dean of admissions and financial aid, in a piece on the college’s website. He said 17% of the incoming class consists of first generation college attendees and 19.4% are Pell Grant recipients — both record highs for Dartmouth — and more than 50% of the first-year class has received scholarships.At the University of Vermont, a larger public institution, 15% of the incoming first-year class consists of students of color — just slightly less than the 16% last fall, according to preliminary enrollment data.Like Dartmouth, admissions officers at UVM did not know the race or ethnicity of applicants during the application review process, Jay Jacobs, vice provost for enrollment management, said in a statement.UVM’s racial data, revealed after admissions were finalized, indicate that the percentages remain largely unchanged from the previous year, with Black or African American students making up 1% of the incoming class, 3% being Asian American and 7% Hispanic or Latino. The number of international students, however, increased by one percentage point.“The university is pleased that students with diverse backgrounds continue to choose UVM,” Jacobs said in the statement.“Having a broad range of backgrounds and experiences represented within the incoming class is vital because it enriches our campus community with differing perspectives, viewpoints, and voices from which we can all learn,” he added.The irony of affirmative action, according to UConn’s Nienhusser, is that the individuals who benefit the most from having diversity in the classroom are white students. “But I do think that this is going to have a long, lasting impact on enrollment,” he said of the high court’s ruling.The impact will be most evident at top-tier institutions, at which admissions are the most selective. But where they can’t take race into account, Nienhusser expects officials will probably take hardship and income level into account more.“I think we’re going to see a decrease of students who are racial minorities long-term at highly selective institutions,” said Nienhusser, who predicts a sort of cascading effect with students who applied to Harvard or Yale possibly attending second-tier institutions that are slightly less selective.In anticipation of the affirmative action reversal, Middlebury officials had been looking at how public institutions in California and Texas, which stopped using race-based admissions earlier, responded. Facing its lowest percentage of incoming students of color since 2020, Middlebury is now partnering with community-based organizations and programs such as College Track and having high school students of color visit campus early on to encourage them to apply to a selective school that they may not have otherwise considered, according to the piece on its website.Public schools that pride themselves on accessibility and have high acceptance rates — such as Vermont State University, which has about an 80% acceptance rate — seem to be less hindered by the new rules.VTSU — the merged Castleton University, Northern Vermont University and Vermont Technical College — remains largely unaffected as it has rolling admissions and a process that has historically been blind to race for financial need, according to Maurice Ouimet, vice president for admissions and enrollment.“We serve a very broad range of students. So the affirmative action decision didn’t really impact us,” he said. The university system has seen an increase in Black, Indigenous and other students of color in recent years, and Ouimet expects that will continue into this year's class. Enrollment data is expected to be released in mid-October.“Our academic programs are a big attraction to a lot of students from diverse backgrounds so we’re hoping to see those trends continue,” he said.Erin Petenko contributed to this story.Read the story on VTDigger here: Most area colleges didn’t see much change in enrollment demographics a year after affirmative action ended.