Assemblymember Phil Ting is calling for change in California's private universities, seeking to halt what's known as legacy admissions. The proposed legislation, Assembly Bill 1780, aims to cut funding via the Cal Grant program to the state's private colleges and universities that show preferential treatment to students with alums or donor relations. This move places California in a select group of states looking to curb legacy admissions in public and private higher education institutions.
Bill Aims to Level the Field
The legislation follows a Supreme Court ruling that forbids considering race in college admissions but allows income and class to remain as considerations. According to Ting, this gives the wealthier 1% of Americans an unfair advantage, with easy access to top educational institutions.
Supporting his stance, Ting alluded to Harvard University economists' studies revealing that children from families earning upwards of $611,000 annually were twice as likely to be admitted into a university compared to those from low- and middle-income families showing similar standardized test results.
Legacy Admissions in Practice
While most private institutions in California deny using alums or donor connections for student admissions, admissions reports to the Legislature show six universities use this practice. Stanford, the University of Southern California, and Santa Clara University have all admitted more than 13% of their students based on these connections, citing figures from their Fall 2022 enrollment.
Speaking on the issue, Kristen Soares, President of the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities, insisted that the incidence of this practice was limited within their sector and welcomed further discussions on the proposal.
Student Perspectives and Equity Considerations
Senior Stanford student Sophie Callott, a legacy student herself, has supported ending the practice. Concerned about the implications of legacy admissions on her achievements, Callott drew attention to the cycle of wealth and privilege perpetuated here.
Meanwhile, the co-president of the Stanford Black Student Union, Alyssa Murray, argued that legacy admissions can be seen as a form of racial preference and economic discrimination. She pointed out the long-standing racial imbalance in private schools' admission of white students and suggested that legacy admissions invariably favor white, wealthy applicants.
Past Attempts to Reform Admissions
Ting pushed a similar bill in light of the Operation Varsity Blues scandal in 2019, which exposed admissions for top-tier schools bought with fake credentials. However, due to the lack of substantial data and concerns about the impact on low-income students, the bill did not pass. Following this, Ting authored another bill, AB 697, which required private universities to submit admissions and enrollment reports to the Legislature.
Data from these reports makes it clear where legacy admissions are most prevalent. An Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities report from June, which didn't account for Stanford or USC, showed that out of 70 private institutions, only five permitted legacy admissions - Santa Clara, Pepperdine, Vanguard, Claremont McKenna, and Harvey Mudd.
Pointing towards the need for reform, Murray stressed that legacy admissions perpetuated an 'old-world' cycle of privilege and reinforced historical biases towards particular ethnic and racial groups, impeding the progression towards equitable higher education.
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