The College Board has announced it will discontinue “Landscape,” a tool designed to give college admissions officers context about applicants’ high schools and neighborhoods, a move that comes against the backdrop of mounting pressure from the Trump administration to dismantle policies tied to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The nonprofit, which administers the SAT, confirmed the decision last week and quietly removed most references to the tool from its website. A brief statement explained that the change was prompted by “federal and state policy [that] continues to evolve around how institutions use demographic and geographic information in admissions.” It added that Landscape “was intentionally developed without the use or consideration of data on race or ethnicity.”
The decision arrives amid an aggressive campaign by Trump officials to restrict admissions practices perceived to benefit underrepresented students. Attorney General Pam Bondi warned colleges in July against using “unlawful proxies” for race, including geography or essays describing hardships. The Department of Education later announced it would require universities to report racial demographics on applicants to ensure race-based preferences are not being used.
Although the College Board did not directly cite federal pressure, the move aligns with a wider rollback of diversity efforts under the Trump administration. Edward Blum, founder of Students for Fair Admissions — the group that successfully challenged affirmative action at Harvard and the University of North Carolina — told The New York Times that “any tool that allows admissions offices to consider race by proxy is a legal and reputation risk.”
Landscape was introduced to provide admissions offices with data such as median family income, crime rates, and high school characteristics. The intention, College Board said, was to give “context” without explicitly incorporating race. But critics argue that even neutral-seeming tools have become targets under Trump’s policies, which portray DEI as unfair advantages for people of color, women, and LGBTQ students.
Research has suggested Landscape had limited impact. A 2022 Brookings Institution study found the tool slightly increased offers to students from disadvantaged schools and neighborhoods, but enrollment gains were minimal — except at institutions that used it to shape financial aid awards.
The end of Landscape comes at a time when Black and Hispanic enrollment has already declined following the Supreme Court’s dismantling of race-conscious admissions. Advocates warn that removing even modest efforts like Landscape could further narrow pathways to higher education for underrepresented students.
As Trump officials continue leveraging federal funding threats against colleges seen as maintaining diversity policies, the College Board’s retreat underscores how deeply political pressure is reshaping the admissions landscape.
