Publication: San Francisco Chronicle
Any California college giving preference to the children of donors or alumni in its admissions decisions would be barred from participating in the state’s popular Cal Grants program, under a bill that is part of a reform package lawmakers said they will introduce in the Legislature.
The six proposals, announced Thursday, come in response to the college-admissions scandal in which a California consultant created a bogus charity to help wealthy parents and celebrities get their unqualified children into Stanford University, UCLA and other elite schools through bribery and cheating.
"We’ve all watched in complete disgust” as the scandal unfolded, Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, said as he announced the proposals with Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, and other lawmakers. “For every student admitted through bribery, an honest and talented student was denied a place.”
Ting said he will introduce AB 697 on Friday to punish schools that offer legacy admissions by barring them from Cal Grants, the state’s financial aid program. Such admissions, typically found at private universities, favor students whose families donate to the campus. They are legal, unlike the bribery and fraud that marked the admissions scandal.