The U.S. Department of Education announced plans to remove race‑based eligibility from the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program and will pursue the change through rulemaking. The department moved after conservative plaintiffs sued over racial criteria; court filings show the plaintiffs agreed to drop the suit in light of the planned regulatory overhaul. Ellen Keast, the department’s higher‑education press secretary, confirmed the agency will publish changes to comply with a Justice Department legal opinion. The McNair program — which distributed more than $60 million to institutions in fiscal 2024 — targets low‑income and first‑generation students historically underrepresented in Ph.D. pipelines. Removing race‑based criteria preserves a federal grant while reshaping how colleges identify eligible students. Institutions that currently rely on McNair funding will need to assess how revised, race‑neutral eligibility rules affect recruitment, program design, and diversity outcomes.