Fair College Admissions for Students Act

Key Points

• This bill would ban colleges from giving any kind of preferential treatment in admissions to applicants based on their family connections to donors or alumni of the school.
• The ban would apply to any college or university that participates in federal student aid programs, which covers the vast majority of public and private four-year schools across the country.
• Schools would have roughly two years to update their admissions practices. The ban takes effect at the start of the second federal financial aid award year after the bill is signed into law.
• Schools that don't comply could risk losing access to federal student loans and grants, since the ban is added as a condition for participating in federal student assistance programs. This gives the rule real enforcement power, as most colleges depend heavily on federal aid dollars.
• The bill was introduced with bipartisan support by Rep. Kim and Rep. Lee of Pennsylvania, and was referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.