Abstract

This paper is the first to document how the magnitude of affirmative action preferences in college admissions has varied across U.S. regions and across time and to illustrate how affirmative action practiced by "nearby" colleges varies. Two new contributions are established: 1) evidence of substantial variation in affirmative action at students' nearby colleges and 2) initially higher levels of affirmative action in the Northeast and Midwest in 1972, with affirmative action increasing in the South and West and declining in the Northeast and Midwest by 1992.