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Forbes
4 days ago
- Politics
- Forbes
Stanford To Continue Legacy Admissions And Withdraw From Cal Grants
Stanford University will continue to consider the legacy status of applicants as part of its admissions process for fall 2026. To do so, it will withdraw — at least for now — from the Cal Grant program, a state-funded source that provides financial aid to California students attending public and private higher education institutions in the state. Last year, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1780 into law, prohibiting the state's independent universities from providing a legacy or donor preference in admissions to their applicants. The prohibition is set to go into effect in September. Stanford has considered alumni and donor status for academically qualified students in the past, and it will continue to do so according to updated admissions criteria the university announced last week. Those criteria also include a reinstatement of a standardized testing requirement for the class entering Stanford in fall 2026. When California enacted AB 1780, it became the fifth state to pass some type of ban against colleges giving an advantage to the relatives of alumni or institutional donors and the second state to do so for private institutions. In August of last year, Illinois became the fourth state to pass a legacy admission prohibition, following Maryland, which enacted a legacy admission ban last April that applies to both public and private colleges. Colorado passed its ban in 2021, and Virginia did so last year. Introduced by California Assembly member Phil Ting, the bill went through significant revisions. Originally, it would have prohibited universities from receiving funds through the Cal Grant financial aid program if they gave preferential admissions treatment to applicants with donor or alumni connections. That provision was later amended so that a school that extended a legacy or donor preference would have faced a civil fine equal to the amount of Cal Grants it received in the prior year. But that penalty was also removed from the bill before its final passage. Now, institutions simply must annually report to the legislature and the California Department of Justice whether they are complying with or violating the bill's provisions, and if in violation, also report the admission rates of students receiving a legacy or donor 'bump' compared to the remainder of the student body. To make up for the lost state aid, Stanford will be 'replacing state-funded student financial aid with university funding, keeping our students' financial support whole,' wrote Brad Howard, associate vice president of University communications, in an email to The Stanford Daily . Howard went on to say there are 'important issues on which there are many perspectives" about legacy preferences, adding that the University will conduct 'continued study and analysis' of the matter. Although California's public colleges and universities do not consider family or donor connections in their admission processes, reports submitted to the state legislature showed that several private California colleges and universities were giving preferential treatment to applicants related to graduates and donors at the time AB 1780 was passed. According to the Los Angeles Times, the University of Southern California had the most legacy admits of any of the state's private universities, admitting 1,791 students in that category in its 2022 entering class, while Stanford had 287, equaling 13.8% of its new admits that year. The Times also reported that Stanford students received about $3.2 million in Cal Grant support that year, putting an approximate price tag on what the university's decision to replace that funding might cost it. Stanford's decision was criticized by Ryan Cieslikowski, a Stanford alum who now works as a lead organizer for Class Action, a student advocacy group that helped spearhead efforts in support of California's legacy ban last year. Arguing that the Trump administration was exploiting America's mistrust of elite higher education for political purposes, Cieslikowski told me, "amid federal attacks, universities should be striving to demonstrate that they serve the public interest. Stanford's decision to continue legacy admissions does the opposite — all to preserve advantages for wealthy alumni and donor's children." The fairness of legacy admission preferences has been questioned for years, resulting in several prominent colleges electing to discontinue them. However, campaigns against the practice have been intensified ever since the Supreme Court found race-conscious admissions to be unconstitutional in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard University and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina. That ruling brought more scrutiny to the racial implications of the legacy advantages extended by highly selective institutions. For example, the percentage of the freshmen class admitted at several elite colleges via the legacy route exceeds the percentage of entering freshmen who are Black, according to a report by Education Reform Now. At many of these colleges, three-quarters or more of the legacy applicants receiving acceptances are white. The debate over the racial dimensions of college admissions is sure to resume given yesterday's news that, following instructions from President Trump, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon has directed the National Center for Education Statistics to begin collecting data disaggregated by race and sex for institutions' applicant pools, admitted cohorts, and enrolled cohorts at the undergraduate level and for specific graduate and professional programs. In the past, only the racial breakdown of enrolled students, not applicants or admittees, was reported. According to the Education Department, the 'new requirements will enable the American public to assess whether schools are passing over the most qualified students in favor of others based on their race.' Apparently, questions about whether colleges are passing over more qualified students to admit the relatives of their alumni or big donors will remain unanswered..
Washington Post
31-07-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
College applications open Friday. Here's what to know.
College admissions have changed drastically since the coronavirus pandemic. Acceptance rates have hit record lows for elite colleges, many schools have dropped standardized testing requirements and artificial intelligence has disrupted how students engage with education. With the Common Application opening Friday, students and families are beginning to weigh their options for tackling the college admissions process.
Forbes
21-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
How To Build A Winning College Admissions Strategy In 2025
Increased competition, enrollment management tactics and AI have changed the college admissions ... More landscape College admissions used to be about predictable milestones: a strong grade point average, competitive standardized test scores and a heartfelt personal statement. But today's applicants face a radically different landscape – one shaped by increased competition, testing policy changes, enrollment management tactics and AI experimentation. The result is a new age of where college admissions strategy is just as important as academic performance. The college admissions landscape has become increasingly complex and competitive as the number of college applicants has grown, and they are applying to a greater number of colleges. U.S. federal National Center for Education Statistics data show that over 3.4 million high school graduates are expected in 2025, an increase of almost 900,000 from 2000. More high school graduates are going to college: there were 16 million enrolled college students in 2024 compared with 13.2 million in 2000 (although down from a peak of 18.1 million in 2010). Many students utilize the Common App, which has simplified the process of applying to multiple schools. Colleges' positions on standardized testing are evolving. Many colleges are returning to their pre-pandemic practice of requiring standardized test scores as a national benchmark amid grading systems that are inconsistent from one high school to the next. Lee Norwood, founder of Annapolis College Consulting and College Sharks Another pressure point is the early decision option, which becomes a binding commitment if the student is accepted. Colleges are leveraging early decision admissions to secure yield and maximize revenue. Lee Norwood is the founder of Annapolis College Consulting and College Sharks, a 'do it yourself' college advising platform. 'Tulane University accepts 64% of its class through early decision, and applicants have a 26.8 times greater chance of admission through that route,' Norwood said. The strategy is clear: capture commitment early and offer less merit aid. Colleges are increasingly using new admissions models to fill their classes. Some institutions offer direct admission, where an offer of admission is made to qualified students before they apply based on standardized test scores or GPA. Others are extending offers of admission and placing students on waitlists for the spring semester or freshman study abroad programs. These tactics help colleges maximize institutional capacity when fall entrants fail to return in the spring. The role of AI in admissions is also evolving. While admissions offices initially admitted to using AI solely for plagiarism detection and grammar triage, some are now open about using AI to measure applications. The University of North Carolina, for instance, states on its admissions website: 'UNC uses an AI program to measure the writing style and grammar of an applicant's essay from the common application, providing an additional data point for the admissions evaluators.' Yet it also makes clear that 'every evaluated comprehensively by extensively trained human application evaluators. Each applicant's final admissions decision is made by a member of the admissions committee.' Yet the influence of AI on student applications is real. 'What I'm seeing most is students using tools like ChatGPT to help them brainstorm or structure essays, but not always understanding how to use them ethically or effectively,' Norwood said. 'The result can be essays that lack depth, personal voice, or worse – essays that sound exactly like everyone else's.' That's where counselors play an increasingly critical role: auditing for authenticity. 'The innovation isn't that students are using AI – it's that we now need to teach them how to co-author with AI responsibly while still making sure their application reflects their real voice, values, and vision,' Norwood said. So, how should students respond to this new era of admissions? First, they must embrace strategic focus over superficial polish. With colleges increasingly favoring depth over breadth, students should pursue meaningful engagement in a few key areas – academic. extracurricular and personal – that align with their values and long-term goals and demonstrate passion and commitment. Second, students need to build an application narrative that is coherent and authentic. Admissions officers are evaluating for fit as much as they are for credentials. Every element, including essays, recommendation letters and extracurriculars, should reinforce the student's identity and direction and be presented in an authentic, personal voice. Third, families must start earlier. Norwood advises that waiting until senior year is a strategic mistake. She encourages students to begin mapping goals and priorities by sophomore year, including testing timelines, potential majors and college list criteria. Ultimately, it is essential to recognize that the process is becoming increasingly data-driven. Students who align their applications with institutional priorities and avoid one-size-fits-all advice will be better positioned for success in the evolving landscape of college admissions strategy. Full disclosure: the author is a client of Annapolis College Consulting. Did you enjoy this story? Don't miss my next one: use the blue follow button at the top of the article, near my byline, to follow more of my work and check out my other columns here.
