California is taking a big step towards making higher education equitable for everyone.
Beginning in the fall of 2025, “legacy admissions” – colleges giving preferential treatment to the children of their alumni – will no longer be legal in the state. This applies to both public and private institutions..
The legislation was proposed by Assemblyman Phil Ting. According to Governor Gavin Newsom, who signed the legislation, “merit, skill and hard work” should determine college admissions. He added that, “The California Dream shouldn’t be accessible to just a lucky few, which is why we’re opening the door to higher education wide enough for everyone, fairly.”
California is now the fifth state to ban legacy admissions for public colleges, and only the second state to do so for private colleges. At a time when elite colleges are both more diverse but more unequal than ever, ending legacy admissions is a vital effort to increase equitable access to higher education.
Studies consistently show that legacy admissions reduce diversity – and that despite their proclaimed values of equity and diversity, elite colleges rely on the practice in order to court large donations.
“Because so few parents of color have graduated from these colleges, legacy admissions remain overwhelmingly white,” an article in The Hechinger Report notes. “The unfairness of it all only seems to grow.”
“Contrary to the meritocratic logic, we find that legacies are neither more qualified applicants nor better students academically,” one recent study noted. “Even so, legacies are up to eight times more likely to be accepted to elite schools than non-legacy students.”
Ending legacy admissions won’t be enough by itself to make higher education accessible and equitable to traditionally disenfranchised groups, but it will help. And not just higher education. Research clearly shows that when more kinds of people have access to education, the economy grows. A study from the Harvard Business Review noted that for every 10% increase in workforce participation by a previously marginalized group there is a 5% increase in overall wages. By making education equitable, by making sure more kinds of people have access, we are investing in our common prosperity.
