15. Take immediate steps to reduce the harm of legacy considerations

Admissions 09.18.24

Here’s what the federal government can do:

  • Congress should create conditions on institutional aid for higher education institutions to discourage the continued use of legacy preferences in their admissions process.
  • Congress should incentivize an end to legacy preferences by lowering the endowment tax on higher education institutions that have eliminated the practice and imposing an additional tax on institutions that continue to offer it.
  • The U.S. Department of Education should collect, conduct, and disseminate research on the use of legacy preference admissions and financial aid practices.
  • The U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights should issue guidance urging the rejection of the consideration of legacy status in admissions given the disparate disadvantage it creates for students of color.

Here’s what state government can do:

  • State legislatures should create conditions on state aid related to the end of legacy preferences.
  • Higher education coordinating agencies should ensure higher education institutions are redacting legacy status information provided by the Common Application in their admissions process.

Here’s what institutional leaders can do:

  • Higher education institutions should redact legacy status information provided by the Common Application in the admissions process.

Recognizing that it may take time to eliminate legacy preference policies and practices, there are intermediate steps that can and should be taken, including ensuring access to data about where and how legacy preferences continue to be used. The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), a data collection administered by the U.S. Department of Education, requires colleges to report whether they consider legacy status.[i] These data are also collected and reported by the Common Data Set (CDS), a collaborative effort among the College Board, Peterson’s, and U.S. News & World Report.[ii] Because the two collections use different definitions, there are data discrepancies that make it hard to evaluate the use of legacy consideration in admissions.[iii] The definition of legacy preference for all data collections should reflect whether a higher education institution asks where an applicant’s parents went to college or includes that information in an applicant’s admissions file.

[i]IPEDS asks colleges and universities to “Please select the option that best describes how your institution used any of the following data in its undergraduate selection process for the fall 2023 first-time student cohort. (If your institution has changed its admissions considerations for the fall 2024 first-time student cohort, you may indicate such changes in the context box immediately following this section)…Required to be considered for admission…Not required for admission, but considered if submitted…Not considered for admission, even if submitted…Legacy status (“Students who have a familial tie to an institution including parents or relatives who are alumni or a sibling who currently attends.”) See: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, Admissions (ADM). https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/survey-components/6.

[ii]CDS asks colleges and universities to provide the: “Relative importance of each of the following academic and nonacademic factors in your first-time, first-year, degree-seeking general (not including programs with specific criteria) admission decisions. Alumni/ae relation” See: Common Data Set, January 22, 2024. https://commondataset.org/.

[iii]Reber, Sarah; & Gabriela Goodman. “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/.