Stanford University chose to forfeit an estimated $4 million in annual state aid rather than change an admissions policy that gives an edge to applicants with ties to alumni or donors.
The money comes through California's Cal Grant program. Under a 2024 state law, colleges receiving that aid must eliminate legacy admissions or appear on a public list of violators. Stanford left the program. That tells you something.
Sens. Tim Scott (R-SC), Todd Young (R-IN), John Kennedy (R-LA), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), and Andy Kim (D-NJ) introduced the Merit-Based Educational Reforms and Institutional Transparency Act, or MERIT Act. Republicans Scott, Young, and Kennedy are driving it; Democrats Kaine, Warnock, and Kim signed on.
The bill would amend the Higher Education Act by adding an accreditation standard. The operative language turns on one word: "determinative." An accredited college could not make an applicant's relationship with an alumnus or donor the deciding factor in admission or in the awarding of an educational benefit.
Young described the preference as an obstacle to upward mobility:
“America is a land of opportunity, not a land of aristocracy. Legacy admissions restrict opportunities for many bright and talented young Americans.”
The bill does give colleges some room. They could consider whether an applicant has demonstrated a genuine interest in attending, provided the standard is public, and every applicant has access to the same opportunities. Religious schools would be allowed to make admissions decisions consistent with their faith. The legislation also orders a feasibility study on better data collection involving alumni and donor influence.
Scott focused on students who arrive without either connection:
“Every student deserves a fair shot at any college or university regardless of his or her family's background and connections to the institution.”
Hundreds of colleges have already dropped the practice. Education Reform Now found that 24 percent of four-year institutions considered legacy status in 2025, compared with 49 percent in 2015. Its tally left 420 schools still using the preference, 358 of them private.
The holdouts are clustered among elite schools. More than half of the country's wealthiest and most selective colleges still give an advantage to relatives of alumni, according to the same analysis.
California, Maryland, Virginia, Colorado, and Illinois have passed their own restrictions. Most of the nationwide decline, however, came from colleges changing their policies voluntarily.
Yale's own faculty have been forced to acknowledge the problem. An April committee report by 10 Yale professors concluded that preferences for legacy applicants, athletes, donors' children, and relatives of employees reduce the seats available to other high-achieving students. The committee recommended scaling them back. Whether Yale's administration follows through is another matter.
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Not everyone wants Congress involved, of course. Harvard professor James Hankins has argued that alumni loyalty and family traditions preserve institutional continuity. A convenient position for those whose families already have a foot in the door. Stanford's decision shows how far at least one university will go to keep the policy.
The bill arrives three years after the Supreme Court's rulings against race-conscious admissions at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. Harvard spent years defending those preferences as an equity imperative. Harvard's own student newspaper later found that 8.8 percent of an entering class had one Harvard parent and another 3.2 percent had two. Nearly 12 percent held a birthright advantage at the same institution that claimed to champion fairness.
No committee hearing or vote has been announced, and similar versions stalled in 2023 and again in 2025. The schools still running this system are betting Congress won't force the issue. Stanford already made its bet. Congress should call it.
Editor's Note: President Trump is fighting to ensure America's kids get the education they deserve.
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