This is partly blamed on applicants waiting longer for a property to become available in their 'first choice' housing area.

"We are pretty clear that this policy is having a positive impact on black applicants," he said.

I understand that the system is based on applicants' self-certifying their responses to the questions.

No one would argue that a university could set up a lower general admission standard and then impose heightened requirements only on black applicants.

"I would be quite concerned if it was college policy to check up on applicants through Facebook," he said.

But a third said: "It's fair to check up on applicants in this way.

He then learned that his office was doing only one-year computer searches on applicants.

The government figures are not complete, focusing only on applicants who count against the annual cap.

The balance of power was hardly lost on young applicants.

It does, however, maintain personnel files on employees and applicants.