College Board Discontinues Prestigious Award Program for Top Black & Latino Students

The College Board has made significant changes to its National Recognition Program awards, aiming to reshape scholarship distribution. This decision may redirect tens of thousands of scholarship dollars from Black and Latino students to white students.

Historically, these awards helped colleges attract and provide financial aid to high-achieving students from underrepresented racial groups. Previously, the program recognized achievements across five categories: Black, Hispanic, Native American, first-generation college students, and those from rural areas. However, the recent revisions have removed the racial categories altogether.

Students from small towns and rural areas can still qualify for the awards by ranking in the top 10 percent of their respective states on the PSAT, but this is not the case for students identified by race. Critics have voiced their disappointment with the College Board’s decision. Rachel Perera, from the Brookings Institution, emphasized that removing these categories suggests a diminishing commitment to addressing racial inequality.

In an official statement, the College Board referenced the Supreme Court’s ruling this year, which prohibited race considerations in college admissions. The organization noted that recent regulations have affected the relevance of their awards for both students and colleges.

The National Recognition Program, initiated in 1983 to honor high-performing Hispanic students, expanded in 2020 to include more categories. Notable statistics reveal that in the 2023-24 academic year, nearly half of the 115,000 awards issued were based on racial categories. In the previous year, the majority of awards aimed at Black, Hispanic, and Native American students.

While all students can now receive these awards devoid of racial designations, experts predict that this change will disproportionately impact Black and Hispanic students. Data shows that average PSAT scores for white students were 994, compared to just 821 for Black students, highlighting a significant gap.

Wil Del Pilar of EdTrust argued that the shift towards race-neutral categories neglects the inequities present in education. Conversely, some conservatives have welcomed the change, viewing race-conscious policies as a form of reverse discrimination and a challenge to the legitimacy of affirmative action in education.

The College Board has substituted the racial categories with a new designation for those scoring in the top 10 percent of their high school on the PSAT. Nevertheless, experts question whether colleges will offer scholarships to all top scorers, given the financial implications.

For instance, the University of New Mexico plans to discontinue using the College Board’s designations by the 2026-27 academic year, indicating a broader reevaluation of their scholarship offerings. The University of Arizona also acknowledged the need to adjust its strategies post-revision.

Amid these changes, eligibility for the College Board awards remains linked to PSAT performance and AP test scores, yet disparities in access to advanced coursework persist across various high schools. Del Pilar noted that discussions of merit are complex when there is an uneven educational landscape.

This evolving situation reflects broader questions about equity in education and the future of scholarship programs. Content like this aims to highlight ongoing disparities and the impact of policy changes at an institutional level.