2. Conduct recruitment equity audits to explore how recruitment funds are used and the racial impact of decisions in the recruitment process.

Recruitment 09.20.24

Here’s what the federal government can do:

  • The U.S. Department of Education should collect and share best practices on recruitment equity audits and assessing the racial impact of decisions in the recruitment process.

Here’s what state government can do:

  • State legislatures should require institutions to conduct recruitment equity audits, evaluate how recruitment funds are used, and assess the racial impact of decisions in the recruitment process.

Here’s what institutional leaders can do:

  • Higher education institutions should conduct recruitment equity audits, evaluate how recruitment funds are used, and assess the racial impact of decisions in the recruitment process.
  • Higher education institutions should share their findings from recruitment equity audits in an easily accessible and publicly available manner.

Equity audits serve as a tool to identify and address inequities in the recruitment process. Recruitment equity audits should be adopted at higher education institutions to better address disparities in student opportunities and outcomes. Recruitment equity audits should include:

  • Percentage of institutional funding that goes to recruiting from predominantly white communities and high schools compared to communities and high schools where the students are predominantly students of color.
  • How relationships between high school counselors and admissions officers are developed and whether more needs to be done to build relationships with high schools with a larger share of students of color.
  • Whether the institution provides funds to students with lower incomes to participate in campus visits.
  • Participation in college fairs and information sessions in communities and high schools with a large share of students of color.
  • Investigating all recruitment processes and assessing their racial impact.
  • A comparison of in-state and out-of-state recruitment resources.