14. End legacy preferences in the admissions process that perpetuate historical racial inequity.

Legacy preferences^[i] in the admissions process often contribute to the wealth, class, and racial inequities that higher education institutions seek to address.

Colleges and universities that use legacy preferences allow students to indicate if a relative previously attended the institution, conferring a positive benefit to those students in the consideration of their applications. These preferences are unrelated to the merits of an individual application and privilege those students who benefit from generational privilege and systemic racism. These policies benefit students whose families had the resources to attend college and were legally permitted to attend because of their race. Legacy status reinforces a cycle of inequity within the admissions process by benefiting students with more financial resources and social capital at the expense of opportunities for historically underrepresented students. As evidence of the ways that this policy reinforces generational privileges, at many highly ranked universities and colleges the number of enrolled students whose relatives attended that institution is greater than the total number of enrolled Black students.^[ii] According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in the Fall of 2022, 30 percent of selective higher education institutions, or 579 institutions, considered legacy status in their admissions process.^[iii] Notably, a study of a dozen highly selective, private colleges found that legacy admissions are a driving mechanism for higher admissions rates among the richest of applicants.^[iv]

Institutions of higher education are already responding to the deep inequities perpetuated by legal preferences by eliminating reliance on them in admission practices. Since 2015, more than 100 colleges and universities have stopped providing legacy preferences. In 2021, Colorado became the first state to end the use of legacy preferences for all public institutions, and in 2024 Virginia and Maryland became the second^[v] and third^[vi] states, respectively, to end the practice. Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action in 2023, Virginia Tech became the second public institution and the fourth overall to eliminate the use of legacy preferences in their admissions practices, joining the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and two private liberal arts colleges, Occidental College and Wesleyan University.^[vii] The University of Georgia and Texas A&M systems also eliminated legacy preferences shortly after the Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. University of North Carolina (UNC)/Harvard decision.^[viii] More states can follow suit by eliminating legacy preferences, leading higher education institutions to create more equitable admissions processes. Legislative action is also important to remove barriers to accessing postsecondary education.

Higher education institutions that lift this barrier in the admissions process have the opportunity to promote greater racial equity and build stronger, socioeconomically diverse campuses. Many institutions, such as the University of North Carolina at Chapel-Hill,^[ix] excluded Black and other students of color by law and practice for many years and today maintain legacy policies that directly disadvantage the descendants of students who were barred from entry.

^[i]Institutions that demonstrate that the use legacy admissions is in the best interest of students who have been historically underrepresented in higher education should be waived from an end to legacy admissions.

^[ii]Murphy, James. “Issue Brief 2: Legacy Preferences,” The Future of Fair Admissions. 2022. https://edreformnow.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/The-Future-of-Fair-Admissions-Legacy-Preferences.pdf.

^[iii]“Four-Year Colleges and Universities Report Over Half of Undergraduate Students Completed Degrees Within 8 Years.” U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, December 12, 2023. https://nces.ed.gov/whatsnew/press_releases/12_12_2023.asp.

^[iv]Chetty, Raj; Deming, David, & Friedman, John N. “Diversifying Society’s Leaders? The Determinants and Causal Effects of Admission to Highly Selective Private Colleges,” Opportunity Insights, July 2023. https://opportunityinsights.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/CollegeAdmissions_Paper.pdf.

^[v]Reber, Sarah; & Goodman, Gabriela. “Who Uses Legacy Admissions?” Brookings, March 12, 2024. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-widespread-is-the-practice-of-giving-special-consideration-to-relatives-of-alumni-in-admissions/.

^[vi]“Maryland becomes the third state to completely ban legacy preference in admissions,” The Hechinger Report, May 1, 2024. https://hechingerreport.org/maryland-to-become-the-third-state-to-completely-ban-legacy-preference-in-admissions/.

^[vii]Knox, Liam. “Virginia Tech Ends Legacy Admissions and Early Decision,” Inside Higher Education, August 1, 2023. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2023/08/01/virginia-tech-ends-legacy-admissions-and-early-decision.

^[viii] Ibid.

^[ix]UNC-Chapel Hill excluded Black students from enrollment until 1951. See: “Black History Month at Carolina: UNC-Chapel Hill,” The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, March 6, 2024. https://www.unc.edu/story/bhm2024/#:~:text=Kenneth%20Lee%2C%20Floyd%20McKissick%20and,African%20American%20students%20at%20Carolina.

^[x]Murphy, James. “The Future of Fair Admission: Legacy Preferences,” Education Reform Now, October 26, 2022. https://edreformnow.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/The-Future-of-Fair-Admissions-Legacy-Preferences.pdf.