The Use of Race-Based Affirmative Action by Elite Colleges and Universities: Creating Alternatives (original) (raw)

The practice of using race-based affirmative action to admit underrepresented ethnic minorities who, when comparing standardized test scores and grade point averages, are considered less qualified than Whites draws contentious public debate. Racial preferences remain unpopular, in large part, because most people realize that getting into a selective college often generates many advantages for the student. For instance, less selective colleges spend approximately 12,000perstudentwhilethemostselectiveuniversitiesexpendapproximately12,000 per student while the most selective universities expend approximately 12,000perstudentwhilethemostselectiveuniversitiesexpendapproximately92,000 per student. Employment wages are estimated to be 5 percent to 20 percent higher for graduates of selective colleges, and extensive research has shown that 54 percent of America’s corporate leaders and 42 percent of high government officials are graduates of just 12 of the top universities in the country. My thesis proffers, through an inferential and comparative analysis of several bodies of literature on the topic, that using race-based ...