On Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a new law banning legacy and donor admissions at private universities in California, including USC and Stanford, among the handful of schools that admit significant numbers of children of alumni or donors, saying that the action will promote equality of educational opportunities.
“In California, everyone should be able to get ahead through merit, skill and hard work,” Newsom said in a statement. “The California dream shouldn't be accessible only to a lucky few, and that's why we're opening the door to higher education wide enough for everyone and fairly.”
The law affects a small number of private institutions in the state that consider family ties in admissions. Others currently adopting the practice include Santa Clara, Claremont McKenna and Harvey Mudd universities.
California State University and the University of California do not give preference in admissions to children of alumni or donors. Some private universities, including Pomona and Occidental, have discontinued the tradition in recent years.
The issue of preferential admissions treatment based on family status and wealth drew renewed opposition after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that race-based affirmative action on college applications is unconstitutional.
Maryland banned all legacy admissions this year, while Virginia and Illinois did the same for public colleges and universities. Colorado also targeted public institutions with its own ban three years ago.
Although California law makes legacy and donor admissions illegal, it does not specify any punishment for universities that violate it.
An earlier version of the bill, authored by Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), called for strict penalties that would force colleges to pay amounts equal to what they receive in Cal Grant payments. The grant program is the state's primary tuition subsidy for low-income students and runs into millions of dollars at many schools.
In an interview before Newsom signed the bill, Ting said it was weaker than he had initially planned. Ting, who is suspended, said he hoped lawmakers would develop the law in the future.
He also said university officials told him they would “respect the law.”
“If we value diversity in higher education, we must level the playing field,” Ting said in a statement Monday. “That means making the college application process more fair and equitable. Hard work, good grades and a well-rounded education should earn you a place in the incoming class, not the size of the check your family can write or who you are related to.”
Under a 2019 state law that Ting also authored, colleges were required to provide an annual report to the state on legacy or donor admissions. The law, which expired in 2023, was prompted by the Varsity Blues scandal, which revealed pay-to-play admissions for children of celebrities and other wealthy Americans to elite U.S. schools.
The new law goes into effect Sept. 1, 2025, and requires colleges to submit their first annual report to the state Legislature and the Department of Justice by June 30, 2026, indicating whether they have followed the law or violated it. The attorney general's office will then have the option of filing charges against violators.
In 2023, USC said it offered admission to 1,791 undergraduate applicants who were relatives of donors or alumni, or about 14.5% of admitted students. At Stanford, the number was 295, which represented about 13.6% of admitted students.
At Santa Clara University, it was 38. Claremont McKenna and Harvey Mudd universities reported that each offered admission to 15 students who had legacy or donor connections.
Each of the five institutions said admitted students met their admissions standards.
Dozens of other private universities that submitted information to the Association. of Independent California Colleges and Universities, which sends its data to Sacramento, reported that alumni or donor ties were not considered in any of its evaluations of applicants.
