Publication: EdSource
California's private, non-profit colleges and universities are succeeding so far in pushing back against the most draconian and controversial state legislation proposed in response to the recent college admissions corruption scandal.
That bill, AB 697, originally would have stripped Cal Grants financial aid from all students attending any college that gave so-called legacy admission preference to children of alumni or donors. It met furious opposition from private colleges, which said the proposal would punish the low-income students who depend on Cal Grant aid to cover a large share of tuition and also would interfere with schools’ traditions of maintaining family ties in relatively small numbers of cases.
Now, with that criticism and disapproval from other legislative leaders, the bill’s sponsor, Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) has overhauled the bill and stripped out the threat of canceling Cal Grants if legacy admissions are granted. Instead, the revised version would withhold Cal Grants only if the schools don’t provide data on the number of legacy admissions and enrollments that do not meet the college’s basic academic standards of entrance.
That less punitive version of the bill was approved last week by the Assembly Committee on Higher Education. However, further softening of the bill, or its complete death, may be at hand at the Appropriations Committee and leadership conferences in coming days.