Image via Flickr. Copyright Gavin Newsom.
On September 30th, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1780 into law, prohibiting private colleges and universities in California from offering legacy and donor preferences in admissions. In a statement, Governor Newsom said, “In California, everyone should be able to get ahead through merit, skill, and hard work. The California Dream shouldn’t be accessible to just a lucky few, which is why we’re opening the door to higher education wide enough for everyone, fairly.”
AB 1780 requires independent institutions to submit an annual report on their compliance to the California Legislature and the Department of Justice. If non-compliant, the bill requires institutions to provide information about newly enrolled students and compare admission rates between those who received legacy or donor preferences to those who did not. The Department of Justice will post the names of non-compliant institutions on its website the following fiscal year.
A previous draft of the bill included fines for non-compliant colleges and universities. However, the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities (AICCU), an advocacy organization for California private schools that represents all the Claremont Colleges, successfully lobbied to remove the penalties.
According to a 2024 AICCU member survey, of the 71 institutions that responded, 66 reported no preferential treatment in admissions based on donor or alumni relationships for the 2023-24 academic year. Five institutions—including Claremont McKenna and Harvey Mudd—admitted at least one applicant under such criteria.
The report states that CMC provided preferential treatment to 15 accepted applicants with donor or alumni connections during the 2023–24 academic year, 11 of whom—less than three percent of the class of 2028—enrolled at CMC. However, all 15 accepted applicants “met [CMC’s] admission standards that apply to all applicants.”
According to the report, no applicants with donor or alumni connections who did not meet admissions standards were admitted at CMC or Harvey Mudd.
Asked how the new law will affect admissions practices, CMC Associate Vice President for Admission & Financial Aid Jennifer Sandoval-Dancs did not respond to a request for comment.