Michael Bloomberg Calls for No Legacy Preferences for College Admissions

(Bloomberg) -- Michael Bloomberg said he would call for an end to giving children of college alumni preference for getting into schools to “make college fair” as part of a higher education policy released Tuesday.

The Democratic presidential candidate said 80% of highly selective private colleges and universities use legacy preferences as a factor in admissions, and only 7% of students at competitive schools come from low-income families. He said he would support legislation requiring institutions that receive federal aid to report more data about legacy and other admissions and consider limiting access to funding if necessary “to level the playing field for all students.”

Bloomberg’s policy has similar elements as plans from other centrist candidates such as Joe Biden, including doubling the maximum Pell Grant and making two-year public colleges tuition-free for all. The policy does not go as far as Bernie Sanders’s free tuition for all but would make four-year public colleges tuition-free for low-income students, and their costs for food, books and transportation would be covered.

To address student debt and the ability to repay loans, the plan would enroll undergraduate borrowers in repayment programs with monthly rates capped at 5% of discretionary income, down from 10%, according to the policy.

The campaign estimated the policy would cost $700 billion over a decade, and it would be funded by revenue generated by higher taxes on the wealthy and other elements of the tax plan Bloomberg released earlier this month.

(Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Niquette in Columbus at mniquette@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth Wasserman

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