Article

Published: 29 April 2026

Peter N. Golder 2 &

Mariya Topchy 3

Nature

( 2026 ) Cite this article

Subjects

The US Supreme Court overturned affirmative action in 2023 1 ; however, higher-education institutions continue to make admissions decisions that affect the racial diversity of their student cohorts 2 , 3 , 4 . Therefore, it is important to know whether racial diversity in an educational cohort is associated with higher or lower student cohort salaries at graduation. Learning theory argues that racial diversity promotes student learning, which should increase salaries 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 . However, well-documented racial wage discrimination indicates that higher racial diversity should decrease salaries 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 . As highlighted in the recent Supreme Court decision, there is no empirical evidence on racial diversity’s association with student cohort salaries.…