Black applications soar at Colorado. Coach Prime Effect?

The University of Colorado Boulder is reporting a record number of applicants for the fall 2024 semester and a 50.5% increase in Black applicants – both of which may be partly due to the “Prime Effect” of hiring Deion Sanders to coach the school’s football team in December 2022.

Since the hiring of “Coach Prime,” the school has been flush with national publicity and was one of the most-watched college football teams in the nation in 2023 even though the Buffaloes finished 4-8. The school said Friday it has received and processed a record 67,664 applications for first-year students, up nearly 20% from last year and climbing. The admissions office is still processing late applications.

“It’s really hard to say if this is in any way related to Coach Prime,” university spokesman Steve Hurlbert said in response to questions from USA TODAY Sports. “The exposure that CU Boulder has received since Coach Prime was hired has been tremendous and certainly being showcased in a number of national media outlets is helpful for attracting applicants, but it’s difficult to draw a direct causational line between Coach Prime and this increase. Many of our peer universities have also noted higher application numbers this year, so CU Boulder is not an anomaly among other institutions of higher education.”

How will this affect Colorado's enrollment demographics?

Sanders, who is Black, also brought a large following from the Black community to CU Boulder, which is mostly white. Last year, the university’s undergraduate population of 30,707 was mostly white (67.8), with Black students making up only 2.8%.

It’s not clear yet how these demographics will change with the increase in applicants. Hurlbert said the school is taking applications until July 31, and a large number of the applicants might not enroll.

The school also noted it cannot discuss the racial makeup of students who have been admitted until it has processed all applications. This is due to the Supreme Court ruling last June which essentially ended race-conscious admission policies.

Big jump in non-white applications

Overall, there was a 29.3% increase in non-white applications.  Out of all of those applications, roughly 51,000 have been accepted for admission, which is not a school record.

“We don’t really know how this will impact enrollment,” Hurlbert said. “These are acceptances, which does not mean all of these prospective students will ultimately decide to come to CU Boulder.  We are excited that so many students are interested in continuing their education at CU Boulder. We are also mindful that sustainable growth will allow our campus to continue to support student success and improve upon retention and graduation rate while not straining campus and community resources.  We’ll have a better idea when our annual census comes out in the fall.”

The university also said its acceptance rate is still being calculated but is expected to be lower than last year’s acceptance rate of 81%.

Of those 51,000 acceptances, only 13,658 came from the state of Colorado. Last year, CU Boulder enrolled 7,546 first-year students after offering admission to 46,692 applicants. A total of 32,980 of those first-year admits were from outside Colorado, and 3,521 ultimately enrolled, Hurlbert said.

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com