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For nearly a year, the 鈥淰arsity Blues鈥� college admissions scandal has sparked a public backlash against perks for the wealthy and well connected. One main target: legacy preferences. But until January, Johns Hopkins University had been staying mum about a major shift in its policy: Since 2014, it has admitted applicants without regard to any family alumni ties.

President Ronald Daniels set the higher education world abuzz when he went public with the change. Legacy students have fallen to 3.5% in the 2019 freshman class, from 12.5% in 2009, just before a phaseout of legacy admissions began. The number of Pell Grant-eligible students grew in the same period from 9% to 19.1%.

鈥淚t makes me proud of my alma matter. ... It makes the process a little bit more fair,鈥� says Priya Sarin Gupta, a 2002聽graduate and chair of the Massachusetts alumni group. 鈥淗opkins has always prided itself on picking students in the admissions process through merit ... and this shows that by example.鈥�

Johns Hopkins鈥� announcement revitalizes the debate over legacy policies. It comes amid a growing call for elite institutions to regain the trust of a skeptical public by prioritizing equity and transparency. With lower-income and less-educated families representing the fastest-growing supply of students, many campuses are starting to rethink long-standing practices. And as the public gains more insight into how admissions have typically worked at elite institutions 鈥� through the Harvard admissions trial, for instance 鈥� selective colleges are facing more scrutiny about legacy and other special admissions categories that have tended to favor the wealthy.聽聽

鈥淭he real questions are a) Is it fair? and b) Can we afford it as a nation when it means we are doing less than we could be to make college realistic, accessible, and affordable?鈥� says Jerome Lucido, executive director of the Center for Enrollment Research, Policy, and Practice at the University of Southern California (USC).

A 2019 national survey found that about three-quarters of the most selective institutions consider legacy. A cluster of notable exceptions includes the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California system.

Each college understandably takes pride in its individuality and wants to encourage alumni children to attend, Professor Lucido acknowledges. At the same time, he says, 鈥渁dmission deans across the country have been saying quietly, 鈥榃e have to do things differently,鈥� but they often feel like they can鈥檛, because the structure is all in place to admit alumni [relatives], to give donor preferences. ...鈥�

Backed by research 鈥� and money

The聽Harvard admissions trial also stirred up concerns about legacy preferences,聽and student groups from the Ivy League and other elite universities have urged their campuses to ditch them. They point to a 聽by then-Harvard doctoral student Michael Hurwitz, which analyzed 30 institutions and concluded that students with a parent who attended the school were about three times more likely to be admitted.聽

Dropping legacy admissions isn鈥檛 the only explanation for Johns Hopkins becoming more socioeconomically diverse. A record-breaking $1.8 billion gift in 2018 has helped the school offer debt-free financial aid packages, for instance. But the admissions change 鈥渉as accelerated our work of recruiting and matriculating students from all walks of life who demonstrate the academic rigor and exceptional talent we expect 鈥� ,鈥� spokeswoman Karen Lancaster wrote in an email to the Monitor.

Among Hopkins alumni, 鈥淚鈥檓 sure there are those that say, 鈥榃ait a minute, my kid鈥檚 a [high school] junior; now I lose this benefit?鈥欌�� says Emmi Harward, executive director of the Association of College Counselors in Independent Schools. But she adds that 鈥渆ven those who may benefit from unearned privilege can often still understand why that privilege needs to go away.鈥�

Any potential domino effect from Hopkins鈥� move may hinge on whether more research challenges the long-held notion that legacy preferences boost colleges鈥� bottom line. One analysis of 1998 to 2008 data found no statistical evidence of legacy preferences affecting total alumni giving. The study appeared in the book 鈥淎ffirmative Action for the Rich,鈥� published by The Century Foundation, a think tank that promotes progressive policies.

Dr. Gupta, the Hopkins alumna, says universities shouldn鈥檛 worry about leaving legacy preferences behind, because 鈥減eople donate for more noble reasons, such as wanting to give back 鈥� and give other students the same opportunities that we had.鈥�

Diversity and legacy?聽

But legacy benefits aren鈥檛 just about money, and at least one selective college makes the case that depending on how such policies are聽crafted, they can actually fit harmoniously with the goal of broadening access to higher education.

鈥淲e鈥檝e been able to diversify socioeconomically while maintaining a legacy policy,鈥� says Swarthmore College Dean of Admissions Jim Bock. The liberal arts campus in Pennsylvania has about 20% Pell-eligible students, and about 20% who are the first generation in their family to attend college. Both categories have grown 5 percentage points in recent years.

鈥淵ou can be a first-generation legacy at our institution, which I think may surprise people,鈥� Mr. Bock says. The school considers both parents and siblings, so 鈥測ou can have an older sibling and a younger sibling who are both still within the first generation to attend college. And that person may or may not receive preference, but that鈥檚 something we would note in the application.鈥�

It鈥檚 important to understand that published rates of legacy enrollment on a campus 鈥� about 16% at Swarthmore 鈥� usually include everyone who reports any family tie to alumni, but not all of those students are eligible for an admissions boost, Mr. Bock says. Those whose grandparents or cousins attended Swarthmore, for instance, get no extra consideration, but they may apply and enroll.

Still, the word 鈥渓egacy鈥� tends to carry a connotation of privilege. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a tremendously creative and socially sensitive way of doing things,鈥� USC鈥檚 Professor Lucido says of Swarthmore鈥檚 approach, but it should maybe be adjusted and renamed, rather than used as a reason to keep a wider legacy policy.

Effective and sustainable, but secret

Johns Hopkins delayed its public announcement partly so it could 鈥渨atch the impact of this change, and ensure we could make this practice effective and sustainable,鈥� Ms. Lancaster says in her email.

That explanation didn鈥檛 satisfy Felicia Petterway, a first-generation low-income (FLI) senior the student-run Johns Hopkins News-Letter that she thought more FLI students might have applied in recent years if they had known. 鈥淚 thought that no matter how good my grades were, or how moving my essays were, my spot could easily be taken by a legacy student, and this prevented me from even applying to several top ranked institutions,鈥� she said in an email to the News-Letter.

But by waiting until they could release information on the impact of the changes, Hopkins leaders made a strong case that they didn鈥檛 have to use legacy preferences 鈥渢o still meet all the goals that they needed to meet,鈥� says Stacey Kostell, who manages enrollment at the University of Vermont and is the incoming CEO of The Coalition for College (a group of more than 150 institutions, including Johns Hopkins, that aims to improve college access for historically underrepresented students).聽

More admissions professionals are grappling with how to pull back the curtain on what they do, including by attending conferences like the recent 鈥淩eclaiming Public Trust in Admissions and Higher Education鈥� at USC. 鈥淣othing we do in admission and recruitment should be a secret,鈥� Professor Lucido says. 鈥淓very admissions space should be available to all without influence. ... If you鈥檙e going to have any kind of special admission categories, they should be open and transparent.鈥�

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct a transcription error in a quote from聽Emmi Harward. She said, 鈥淓ven those who may benefit from unearned privilege can often still understand why that privilege needs to go away.鈥�