Letters to the Editor: How curtailing legacy college admissions hurts poor students

To the editor: Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) contends that colleges offering legacy admissions “have plenty of money” to offer low-income students without having to rely on alumni donations. Where, pray tell, does he think these colleges got this money? (“California effort to crack down on legacy and donor admissions could hit USC, Stanford,” Feb. 29)

It was not from the government, nor was it from tuition from full-paying students, because for most colleges, tuition is insufficient to cover costs. This money came from alumni from years past building up endowments for tuition assistance.

My husband was able to attend college with tuition assistance from an alumnus. In fact, the school asked him to write a letter every year thanking the donor, and he gratefully did so.

Recently, when my daughter applied to college, an admissions director at a highly selective school told us that 90% of the applicants were qualified to attend. So the question becomes, how do schools choose?

If a legacy or donor child meets the criteria, why can’t the school choose that child? If it is a full-paying student and additional monies are donated to provide tuition assistance, I call this a win-win.

Jacqueline Brady, San Juan Capistrano

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To the editor: I fully support the effort to ban state financial aid to students attending private colleges and universities that favor legacy admissions.

According to their own statements, USC’s endowment is more than $7 billion, Santa Clara University’s is $1.47 billion, and Stanford’s is a whopping $36.5 billion. These institutions could easily make all tuition free, or even free for those with incomes under a certain amount, but they choose not to.

No public monies should be given to these behemoths that are sitting on obscene sums.

Brenda Gant, Glendale