To create a balanced student body, UNC’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions makes an effort to admit more underrepresented students.
This form of affirmative action has a rightful place at the University, but a more self-serving kind continues to help students who usually don’t need a leg up.
The legacy status of out-of-state applicants is a quality beneficial to admission consideration. According to one representative, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions actively recruits legacy students by sending letters that encourage alumni parents to have their children apply to UNC. Perhaps it should instead be sending letters asking for donations to the Carolina College Advising Corps — an organization funded by private donors and the admissions office that provides college advisers to economically disadvantaged school districts.
The pursuit of applicants from parents with greater means runs counter to UNC’s stated mission “to enhance access to learning and to foster the success and prosperity of each rising generation.”
Though it is clear that these students’ ability to pay the full cost of attending from out of state is lucrative, the active pursuit of these students is a perversion of the fair shot that UNC claims to offer.
It doesn’t make sense that alumni offspring should receive preference over those whose parents weren’t fortunate enough to come to Chapel Hill or attend college at all. This practice has been halted at the University of Georgia.
Admissions is a harrowing process for every applicant. By narrowing or eliminating its preference for legacy applicants, UNC can focus on helping those who face structural barriers to higher education.
