Although having more students going to college is advantageous towards society, it seems to pose a difficult problem for most universities because of the availability of spaces at the top American colleges is limited. As a result, racial preferences in higher education have been attacked in higher education as the country debates how to distribute access to competitive four year colleges. As the debate continues on about affirmative action in higher education, one major question is whether there are alternative policies that would maintain levels of diversity in higher education.

Although it is perceived that affirmative action is widespread in higher e

Percentage admission plans have been the most visible alternative to affirmative action. These policies have been used in Texas, California, and Florida which guarantee college acceptance to a top segment of the graduating high school classes within the state. The logic behind the percentage plans as an alternative to affirmative action rests on the assumption that in order to maintain racial diversity near affirmative action levels, these policies must rely on racially segregated high schools. If students are completely segregated by race, then the top students in the minority concentrated schools will be accepted to college and fulfill the diversity targets of those institutions. One way to judge the effectiveness of the percentage plans is to compare level of diversity before the end of affirmative action to after the policy had been enacted. According to Kain and O’Brien (2003) they found that the top 10 Percentage Plan had little effect on Black and Hispanic enrollment. However, percentage plans might help with the diversity of the entering class; they do nothing to ensure this diversity is sustained throughout the college years by not addressing preparation issues beyond class rank.

The role of race in college admissions is an increasingly complex subject that becomes even more significant as the importance of a college education grows, access to higher education becomes more competitive, and the racial composition of the country changes. With the removal of affirmative actions in several states, many question whether there are viable strategies that would increase minority student enrollments. However, the alternatives that have been introduced do not provide easy solutions. Although they have received a

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