(San Antonio – May 28, 2024) This month, IDRA launched a two-year study on the impact of Texas Senate Bill 17’s ban on college diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) offices and the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision to significantly limit race-conscious admissions in higher education on marginalized college-going students. The study explores the impact of those changes on high school students’ access to college and opportunities for equitable admissions, financial aid, and student support at Texas higher education institutions.

“At IDRA, we believe that the people most affected by state policies are really the best policy experts,” IDRA President and CEO Celina Moreno, J.D., said. “IDRA’s study will uplift the perspectives and recommendations of college-going high school students, and those who support them, to contribute to ground-level understandings about the policies’ impacts on students’ college choices and opportunities and relevant student success initiatives.”

IDRA will use a community-based approach that includes convening roundtables and focus groups with families, high school students and counselors, and college students, faculty, and staff in Texas. Our research will address equitable college access in a state that aims to significantly increase the number of college graduates.

The study is designed to provide key findings, community-based toolkits, educational practice strategies at the K-12 and higher education levels, and state and university policy recommendations.

“By centering student, family and educators’ perspectives, this study will identify key strategies to increase college access for all students, especially students who are Black, Latino, from low-income backgrounds and first-generation collegegoers,” said Chloe Latham Sikes, Ph.D., IDRA deputy director of policy.

To learn more about the study, contact Dr. Latham Sikes at chloe.sikes@idra.org.

This research initiative is generously funded by Greater Texas Foundation, whose vision is for all Texas students to have equal opportunity to access and succeed in postsecondary education. 

Share