Stanford to California: We Don't Need Your Money

Last September California banned "legacy" admissions in private colleges, i.e., the practice of favoring the children of alumni during the admissions process.

The law is difficult to implement, since many applicants have impressive resumes and it will be nearly impossible to prove that being a legacy was the deciding factor in a candidate's admission.

Stanford University decided not to play the game of prove-that-I'm-violating-a-complicated law. Stanford announced that it will continue to give preferential treatment to legacies: [bold added]

With three weeks to go before California’s ban on legacy admissions takes effect at private universities that receive state funding, Stanford has made a stunning decision: To preserve that perk, it’s pulling out of the Cal Grant program that benefits hundreds of low-income students at the pricey campus.

By declining Cal Grants, Stanford can continue giving admissions preference to hundreds of students who are related to alumni or whose relatives have given money to the university. The statewide ban on such legacy and donor-driven admissions takes effect Sept. 1 under Assembly Bill 1780, which was signed into law last year.

Stanford officials say they will cover the canceled aid with university money, and that it will cost just $4 million a year...

Stanford is one of six California private schools that last year reported giving preferential admissions to the children of alumni or wealthy donors. Stanford said it admitted 295 students this way in fall 2023, or 13.6% of all undergraduates admitted that year. The other private schools that relied on the practice were Santa Clara University, the University of Southern California, Northeastern University Oakland (formerly Mills College), Claremont McKenna College and Harvey Mudd College. None has said it was pulling out of the Cal Grant program.

Jonathan Levin

Without considering the moral arguments, Stanford's decision can be justified on a dollar-and-cents basis:

Stanford's endowment exceeds $36 billion and can easily cover the loss of Cal Grant's $4 million per year.

If it did forsake legacies, Stanford would risk future donations by billionaire alumni like Google's Larry Page and Sergey Brin and Nike's Phil Knight and thousands of mere millionaires.

There are no Federal laws against legacy admissions, and therefore Federal funding to Stanford will not be jeopardized by this decision.

With the elevation of Business School Dean Jonathan Levin to its Presidency, Stanford appears to be pulling back from the egalitarian excesses (anti-Semitism, DEI) that have plagued it and the nation's most prestigious universities.