A group of Democrats just relaunched an effort to ban legacy admissions and strip financial aid from schools that keep the practice in place

• A group of Democrats revived a bill to ban legacy admissions across colleges.
• The bill would strip financial aid from schools that maintain the practice.
• It comes after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions.

A group of Democratic lawmakers want to end legacy admissions once and for all.

On Wednesday, Democratic Sens. Jeff Merkley and Chris Van Hollen, along with Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman, revived the Fair College Admissions for Students Act — first introduced in February 2022 after the Supreme Court announced it would be taking up affirmative action cases — that would stop universities across the country from giving preferential treatment to children of donors and alumni. 

Specifically, the legislation would amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to prohibit schools who give preference to legacy students from participating in the federal student aid program, while granting the education secretary the authority to determine if legacy preference for Historically Black College and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions is in the best interest of its students.

Merkley said during the Wednesday press conference that "every seat that a university reserves for the already wealthy and well connected, that is, the children of donors and the children of alumni, is a seat not available to a more qualified individual who comes from a financially challenged background, or who comes from a minority community."

"So the less qualified are being given, if you will, a golden path in, that takes away the opportunity of the more qualified individuals," Merkley continued. "At many of our major universities, ten to 15% of the seats, sometimes more, are reserved for donors and reserved for the children of alumni. In short, affirmative action for the affluent, the well connected, the children of alumni, the children of donors, is alive and well. And it's not a form of affirmative action that serves our country well."

At the end of June, the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions, meaning colleges can no longer consider race as a factor when deciding whether to admit a student. Following the decision, legacy admissions practices entered a harsh spotlight. The Education Department recently opened an inquiry into Harvard's admissions process following allegations from three groups — the Chica Project, the African Community Economic Development of New England, and the Greater Boston Latino Network — that claimed the Ivy League school was favoring white and wealthy applications who were less qualified than applicants of color.

A Harvard spokesperson said in a statement that it is examining data on the way it admits students, and that "Harvard remains dedicated to opening doors to opportunity and to redoubling our efforts to encourage students from many different backgrounds to apply for admission."

Some prestigious schools have already ended their legacy admissions practices. Johns Hopkins University, for example, ended the practice in 2009, and Amherst College did the same in 2021. Just last week, Wesleyan College's President Michael Roth wrote in a letter that the school will also be ending the practice.

"In the wake of the recent Supreme Court decision regarding affirmative action, we believe it important to formally end admission preference for 'legacy applicants,'" he said. "We still value the ongoing relationships that come from multi-generational Wesleyan attendance, but there will be no 'bump' in the selection process. As has been almost always the case for a long time, family members of alumni will be admitted on their own merits."

The Democrats' bill does not yet have bipartisan support, but they said they will continue to push for their legislation to ensure students who don't have the same resources as children of alumni or donors have an equal shot at getting into the college of their choice.

"This bill is a very straightforward proposition that we can no longer have a situation where the federal government supports colleges and universities that stack the deck in favor of applications from students from families who are big donors, and it doesn't unfairly stack the deck in favor of legacy applicants," Van Hollen said. "So we need to end this hereditary privilege that is embedded right now in so many colleges and universities."