Colleges to be able to hide student race, ethnicity

COLUMBIA, S.C. (CNN)—More than 1,000 colleges in the United States allow students to apply for admission through the Common Application and soon those colleges will be able to hide information about a student’s race and ethnicity.

The Common Application says it is making the change to allow colleges to do that, starting August 1.

The decision could diminish the number of black and hispanic students in higher education.

The move comes ahead of the Supreme Court’s ruling that would likely ban college and universities from taking race into consideration when admitting students.