Colleges will be able to hide students’ race, ethnicity on popular application portal

(CNN) - More than 1,000 colleges in the U.S. allow students to apply for admission through the Common App.

Soon, those colleges will be able to hide information about a student’s race and ethnicity.

The Common App said it is making the change to allow colleges to do that starting Aug. 1.

The decision could diminish the number of Black and Hispanic students in higher education.

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

Questions about race and ethnicity are optional on the Common App, and that likely won’t change, according to the organization.

The common app also lets schools hide information about an applicant’s test scores, birthday, gender and Social Security number.

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