S 880

Introduced

Fair College Admissions for Students Act

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to prohibit institutions of higher education participating in Federal student assistance programs from giving preferential treatment in the admissions process to legacy students or donors.

Introduced Mar 6, 2025

Latest action (Mar 19, 2026) Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Hearings held.

Referred to

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee

Policy area

Education

Issues

Education

Summary

This bill amends the Higher Education Act to prohibit colleges and universities that receive Federal student aid funding from giving preferential treatment to applicants based on their family connections to donors or alumni. Institutions would be required to make admissions decisions without considering whether an applicant is a legacy student or related to a donor. The prohibition would apply to all institutions participating in Federal student assistance programs. The requirement would take effect starting with the second academic award year after the law is enacted.

AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.

Sponsor (1)

Sen. Merkley, Jeff [D-OR] (D-OR)

2 cosponsors

Sen. Kennedy, John [R-LA] (R-LA)
Sen. Padilla, Alex [D-CA] (D-CA)

Actions (3)

Mar 19, 2026 Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Hearings held. · senate
Mar 6, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. · senate
Mar 6, 2025 Introduced in Senate

Similar bills (6)

Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.

Committee action

What happened to this bill in committee — the meetings where it was considered and every recorded vote taken on it.

Meetings where this bill was on the agenda

Member Day to examine S.297, to amend title XXVII of the Public Health Service Act to require group health plans and health insurance issuers offering group or individual health insurance coverage to provide coverage for prostate cancer screenings without the imposition of cost-sharing requirements, S.380, to improve obstetric emergency care, S.547, to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Labor to conduct a study and issue a report on grant programs to support the nursing workforce, S.846, to implement or strengthen programs that increase the supply of quality child care services by enhancing the wages of child care workers, S.864, to amend title XXVII of the Public Health Service Act to apply financial assistance towards the cost-sharing requirements of health insurance plans, S.880, to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to prohibit institutions of higher education participating in Federal student assistance programs from giving preferential treatment in the admissions process to legacy students or donors, S.942, to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide for interest-free deferment on student loans for borrowers serving in a medical or dental internship or residency program, S.1269, to promote United States leadership in technical standards by directing the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Department of State to take certain actions to encourage and enable United States participation in developing standards and specifications for artificial intelligence and other critical and emerging technologies, S.1380, to amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize a loan repayment program to encourage specialty medicine physicians to serve in rural communities experiencing a shortage of specialty medicine physicians, S.1387, to authorize the National Biotechnology Initiative, S.1482, to amend the Public Health Service Act to support and stabilize the existing nursing workforce, establish programs to increase the number of nurses, S.1677, to provide health insurance benefits for outpatient and inpatient items and services related to the diagnosis and treatment of a congenital anomaly or birth defect, S.1756, to amend the Public Health Service Act to prohibit discrimination against health care entities that do not participate in abortion, and to strengthen implementation and enforcement of Federal conscience laws, S.1784, to improve coordination of Federal efforts to identify and mitigate health and national security risks through maintaining a list of essential medicines, conducting a risk assessment of essential medicine supply chains, and creating a monitoring system to map essential medicine supply chains using data analytics, S.1813, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a credit against tax for charitable donations for the creation or expansion of charter schools, S.1830, to clarify that agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services do not have the authority to regulate the practice of medicine, S.2287, to amend the Public Health Service Act to increase the number of permanent faculty in palliative care at accredited allopathic and osteopathic medical schools, nursing schools, and other programs, including social work, physician assistant, and chaplaincy education programs, to promote education and research in palliative care and hospice, and to support the development of faculty careers in academic palliative and hospice care, S.2289, to amend titles XIX and XXI of the Social Security Act to improve maternal health coverage under Medicaid and CHIP, S.2323, to amend the Head Start Act to permit some teachers in Early Head Start programs to teach while earning a child development associate credential, S.2355, to amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for hospital and insurer price transparency, S.2531, to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants to increase early detection of and intervention for uterine fibroids, S.2658, to require sponsors of drug applications and holders of approved applications to provide certain submissions and communications to the Food and Drug Administration and the United States Patent and Trademark Office, S.2699, to amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize certain education and training programs relating to geriatrics, S.2762, to establish a commission on long-term care, S.2826, to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to dedicate sufficient resources for the support of LGBTQ+ youth seeking help from the 9-8-8 suicide prevention hotline, S.2828, to amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to reauthorize and update the Act, S.2833, to amend the Older Americans Act of 1965 to improve falls prevention research and activities, S.2841, to amend the American History and Civics Education program under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to require hands-on civic engagement activities for teachersHealth, Education, Labor, and Pensions CommitteeMar 19, 2026Business meeting

Full text

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

March 6, 2025

Mr. Merkley (for himself, Mr. Kennedy, and Mr. Padilla) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

A BILL

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the “Fair College Admissions for Students Act”.

SEC. 2. BAN ON LEGACY OR DONOR PREFERENCES IN ADMISSIONS.

(a) In General.—Section 487(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following:

“(30) The institution will not provide any manner of preferential treatment in the admission process to applicants on the basis of their relationships to—

“(A) donors to the institution; or

“(B) alumni of the institution.”.

(b) Effective Date.—The amendment made by subsection (a) shall take effect on the first day of the second award year (as defined in section 481(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1088(a))) that begins after the date of enactment of this Act. <all>

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Summary

Sponsor (1)

Actions (3)

Related bills (1)

Similar bills (6)

Committee action

Meetings where this bill was on the agenda

Full text

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