IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/tpr/edfpol/v21y2026i3p564-585.html

The Evolving Landscape of Legacy Preference Bans in Postsecondary Admissions: Evidence and Policy Implications from Case Studies

Author

Listed:
  • Brent J. Evans

    (Department of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN 37240)

  • Cody L. Christensen

    (Department of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN 37240)

Abstract

“Legacy preferences,†the practice of giving admissions bonuses to college applicants with relationships to alumni, have recently fallen under sharp criticism. Critics argue that this practice perpetuates racial and socioeconomic inequality in higher education admissions, and there is a growing policy movement to eliminate legacy preferences. In this brief, we document the evolving landscape of legacy preference bans occurring at the federal, state, and local levels. We then examine seven settings where legacy preferences were banned and observe any changes in the socioeconomic and racial diversity of enrolled college students in those settings. We find heterogeneity in both the policies themselves and in the observed changes to student diversity after legacy preference bans. We conclude by discussing the reasons why legacy preference bans are likely to have heterogeneous effects in different settings.

Suggested Citation

  • Brent J. Evans & Cody L. Christensen, 2026. "The Evolving Landscape of Legacy Preference Bans in Postsecondary Admissions: Evidence and Policy Implications from Case Studies," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 21(3), pages 564-585, Summer.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:edfpol:v:21:y:2026:i:3:p:564-585
    DOI: 10.1162/EDFP.a.433
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1162/EDFP.a.433
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1162/EDFP.a.433?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:tpr:edfpol:v:21:y:2026:i:3:p:564-585. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: The MIT Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://direct.mit.edu/journals .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.