Harvard's Class of 2030: Applications Up 15 Percent, Black Enrollment Down to 9.3 Percent, Fewer Students Paying No Tuition

Harvard College enrolled 1,648 first-year students in the Class of 2030 from 55,104 applicants, a 15 percent increase over the previous year, according to data the Faculty of Arts and Sciences released Tuesday. Of the students offered admission, 80.9 percent enrolled, the sixth straight cycle with a yield above 80 percent, Harvard said.

The figures on race continue a trend that began after the Supreme Court's 2023 ruling against race-conscious admissions in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard. Among students who self-identified, 9.3 percent identified as African American or Black, 43.2 percent as Asian American, 11.4 percent as Hispanic or Latino and nearly 2 percent as Native American, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, according to Harvard. Nine percent did not report a race or ethnicity, and students who selected more than one race are counted in each category.

The Harvard Crimson, comparing the release with prior years, reported that Black enrollment fell 2.2 percentage points from 11.5 percent in the Class of 2029, the third straight annual decline, and that Black students made up 14 percent of the Class of 2028 and 18 percent of the class before it. Asian American enrollment rose from 41 percent last year and 37 percent two years ago. The Crimson noted that beginning with the Class of 2028, Harvard calculates racial percentages using only students who report their race, which makes year-to-year comparisons harder.

Financial aid figures moved in the opposite direction from Harvard's recent aid expansion. Thirty-nine percent of the class receives financial aid that covers full tuition, Harvard said, and more than half of those students receive aid covering all expenses, including tuition, fees, food and housing. The Crimson reported that the full-tuition share was 45 percent last year. Harvard expanded its aid last year to cover the full cost of attendance for families earning under $100,000 and to eliminate tuition for families under $200,000, according to the Crimson.

First-generation students make up 17 percent of the class, down from 20 percent, and an estimated 21 percent are eligible for federal Pell Grants, unchanged, according to Harvard's release and the Crimson's comparison. The class includes 12 veterans.

Geographically, the class includes students from all 50 states and 86 countries, down from 92 countries last year, the Crimson reported. International applicants make up 15.4 percent of the class, the same share as last year. Among students from the United States, 19 percent are from New England, 23 percent from the Middle Atlantic, 15 percent from the South, 14 percent from the Midwest and 13 percent from the Pacific region.

Harvard did not publish the number of students admitted. The Crimson, using the enrollment and yield figures, estimated an acceptance rate of about 3.7 percent, down from 4.18 percent.

"The Class of 2030 carries that tradition forward, bringing their own experiences and aspirations to campus," William Fitzsimmons, the dean of admissions and financial aid, said in the release. The applicant pool was the largest in years when Harvard has required standardized tests, after an 11 percent decline last year when the college reinstated its SAT or ACT requirement, the Crimson reported.

The data arrive as the federal government's lawsuit against Harvard over applicant-level admissions records, filed in February, continues, according to the Crimson. That suit does not accuse Harvard of racial discrimination.

What remains unknown: how many students were admitted, why the full-tuition share fell despite the aid expansion, and how the first class admitted through Harvard's QuestBridge partnership is composed.