Last week, we announced with great excitement that the state of Colorado, the Centennial State, had banned legacy preference in college admissions at the state’s public institutions. No longer would Colorado’s public universities be able to offer advantage to the progeny of a school’s alumni base in the admissions process. No longer would these students earn admission at higher odds simply because their parents or grandparents attended the institution years before. It was a proud day for Coloradans. Less heralded that day, Colorado’s Governor Jared Polis signed a bill removing the requirement that Colorado’s public universities consider SAT or ACT scores in admissions decision-making.

Colorado has followed the lead of the state of Washington. As Elissa Nadworny reports for NPR in a piece entitled “Colorado Becomes 1st State To Ban Legacy College Admissions,” “As pandemic restrictions loosen up, and in-person testing resumes, some universities have begun to reincorporate the SAT and ACT into their admissions. But others have made the temporary changes permanent. That includes Washington state’s public universities, which announced earlier this month that its schools will no longer require test scores for admission. This spring, the University of California system agreed to continue a test-free admissions policy through 2025. California sends the largest number of high school students to U.S. colleges, and if the UC system no longer uses the tests, it’s unclear whether those students will be interested in applying to other schools that do require them.”

We congratulate the Centennial State on their bold recent moves aimed at fostering equity in college admissions. We have long called for an end to the practice of legacy admission. We have long said the practice even violates our federal tax code. But it likely won’t be until states like Colorado ban the practice that the anachronistic policy will be taken off the books. Here’s hoping states soon follow Colorado’s lead and we’ll be reporting if other states soon write bills ending the SAT / ACT requirement in admissions as well at public universities. Do stay tuned!