Efforts ramp up to eliminate legacy admissions in California private universities

EdSource

Mallika Seshadri

July 31, 2023

Efforts to eliminate legacy admissions in the state’s private universities are ramping up, as State Assemblyman Phil Ting aims to revamp efforts to deny state financial aid to campuses that favor alumni or donors’ children, the Los Angeles Times reported.

About 14.4% of USC’s 2022 admitted class had either alumni or donor connections. Roughly 13.8% of Stanford’s admitted class and 13.1% of Santa Clara’s admitted class fell into that same bracket.

By comparison, more than 70 private colleges and universities in California do not consider alumni or donor connections, including Caltech and Pomona College.

“This is about educational access,” Ting, chair of the powerful Assembly Budget Committee, told the LA Times. “We grow up thinking that merit gets us into Stanford or Harvard or any of these elite institutions; that it’s really about having the best grades. But what you see is that there’s a very big back door for people who can just write the check. We shouldn’t be subsidizing or condoning that kind of behavior.”

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