President Donald Trump has launched an assertive campaign to reform college admissions, presenting it as a win for meritocracy. His policies focus on standardized test scores, academic achievement, and the elimination of racial considerations, portraying a vision of higher education driven solely by measurable performance. Yet, while race is under intense scrutiny, legacy admissions and donor-based advantages remain untouched, preserving a system that favors wealth and inherited privilege.
Legacy admissions: The hidden advantage
Legacy preferences, sometimes described as “affirmative action for the wealthy,” grant children of alumni or major donors a significant edge in admissions. Despite efforts to remove racial factors from evaluations, hereditary advantages continue to disproportionately benefit affluent and predominantly white students, leaving meritocracy incomplete.
Political and legislative momentum
Lawmakers argue that focusing solely on race does not fully address inequities in higher education. Several states, including Virginia, Colorado, and California, have banned legacy admissions at public institutions. Yet elite private universities, including all Ivy League schools, continue to uphold the practice. Stanford University recently announced it would maintain legacy preferences, even withdrawing from California’s state financial aid program rather than abandoning the policy.
Merit over race, wealth intact
Trump’s executive actions and Justice Department guidance aim to enforce compliance with the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling against affirmative action, requiring universities to provide detailed admissions data. While the policies prohibit racial consideration, they make no mention of legacy or donor advantages. Critics argue this selective focus undermines the notion of merit, allowing inherited privilege to continue shaping opportunity.
Public opinion and university practices
Most Americans oppose legacy and donor preferences, according to a 2023 AP-NORC poll. Universities defend the practice as a means of building community and securing donations. Transparency, however, remains limited. While institutions report whether they consider legacy status, few disclose its impact on admissions. Among the nation’s most selective universities, very few reveal how many students are admitted under legacy or donor preference policies.Meritocracy under scrutinyTrump positions his actions as essential to maintaining meritocracy and ensuring colleges recruit capable future professionals. However, experts caution that targeting race alone may have unintended consequences, potentially prompting institutions to limit minority enrollment to avoid government scrutiny. The reform campaign raises fundamental questions about fairness in admissions when wealth and ancestry continue to hold sway.The road ahead Trump’s admissions initiative exposes the tension between merit, diversity, and tradition in higher education. By addressing racial considerations while leaving legacy privileges untouched, the policies challenge universities to reconcile fairness with entrenched advantages. Whether true meritocracy can flourish amid enduring wealth-based benefits remains uncertain, highlighting the complexity of reforming an institution long shaped by privilege.
