Senate Bill S8498

2021-2022 Legislative Session

Relates to enacting the "fair college admissions act"

download bill text pdf

Sponsored By

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Higher Education Committee


  • Introduced
    • In Committee Assembly
    • In Committee Senate
    • On Floor Calendar Assembly
    • On Floor Calendar Senate
    • Passed Assembly
    • Passed Senate
  • Delivered to Governor
  • Signed By Governor

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2021-S8498 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:
A9505
Current Committee:
Senate Higher Education
Law Section:
Education Law
Laws Affected:
Add §239-d, Ed L
Versions Introduced in 2023-2024 Legislative Session:
S4170, A1423

2021-S8498 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Enacts the "fair college admissions act"; prohibits legacy and early admissions policies at colleges and universities in New York; declares such policies and practices to be discriminatory and inequitable.

2021-S8498 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2021-S8498 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8498
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               March 7, 2022
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by Sen. GOUNARDES -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Higher Education
 
 AN  ACT  to  amend  the education law, in relation to prohibiting legacy
   preference and early decision admission policies at  higher  education
   institutions in this state
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Short title. This act may be known and shall  be  cited  as
 the "fair college admissions act".
   §  2.  Legislative  intent. a. The legislature hereby finds that there
 are significant income gains  associated  with  postsecondary  education
 degree  attainment,  with  New  York  state  residents with a bachelor's
 degree three times less likely to live in poverty than those with a high
 school diploma.
   b. The legislature further finds that students who attend and graduate
 from a highly selective higher education institution in the state of New
 York are much more likely to earn salaries in the  top  income  quintile
 than  those  who  graduate  from less selective institutions, furthering
 economic and social inequality.
   c. The legislature further finds that  within  most  highly  selective
 higher education institutions in New York state, degree completion rates
 for  students  from  low-income and working class family backgrounds are
 comparable to students from upper-income family backgrounds.
   d. The legislature further finds that many four-year higher  education
 institutions in New York state consider whether a prospective student is
 related to alumni as part of the admissions process.
   e. The legislature further finds that providing preferential treatment
 to  students  related  to  alumni  of  a higher education institution is
 discriminatory in nature and disproportionately hurts students who  come
 from  working  class  and  low-income families, have parents who did not
 earn a bachelor's degree, are  undocumented,  are  immigrants,  and  are
 members of historically underrepresented minority groups formerly denied
 entry  into specific higher education institutions either as a matter of
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD14861-03-2
              

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