California Gov. Gavin Newsom just signed a law banning legacy and donor considerations in admissions at all private colleges and universities in the state. California is the fifth state to do so, following Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, and Virginia. Newsom praised the law, saying, “The California Dream shouldn’t be accessible to just a lucky few.”
According to the Stanford Daily, 13.6 percent of admits to Stanford University in 2023 were children of alumni or donors. Inside Higher Ed reports that it was 14.4 percent at the University of Southern California in 2022, and 13.3 percent at the University of Santa Clara. Pepperdine University’s is around 9 percent.
Last year, 2.5 million students were enrolled in California’s colleges or universities. Even at USC — with the highest percentage of legacy or donor admits — nearly 87 percent of the student population of more than 45,000 were not the children of…
