Stanford sticks to old acceptance

Stanford University confirmed its admission policies for the fall of 2026, given the old situation, a decision that may affect access to one of the most important talent pipelines in Silicon Valley. Stanford also ends its specialist policy, which requires SAT or ACT for the first time since 2021.

According to the daily Stanford newspaperThe university is committed to retaining heritage preferences to the point that it withdraws from Cal Grant in California, and gives up government financial aid instead of compliance with the legislation signed by the California Governor Gavin News in last fall – Assembly Bill 1780 – Who prohibits old acceptance. The university promises to replace this funding with its own money.

This matters further than Palo Alto. Stanford was a launching platform for countless technology leaders, from the founders of Google, NVIDIA, Snap and Netflix to famous executives and VCS. With the old acceptance, it can be said that the children of the Silicon Valley elite maintain an advantage in accessing the network that operates many technical mutations.

The return of the test requirements adds other wrinkles, and you may prefer students with preparatory test resources. While supporters believe that it maintains academic standards, critics argue that for an industry based on a merit speech, Stanford’s decisions represent a step in the wrong direction – restoring unified barriers and inequality.

Stanford announced last year its decision to reverse its decision in 2021 to remove unified tests as application requirements. The university will continue to consider the old situation last week in the newly released admission criteria.

Policies take additional importance, given the financial dependence of universities on the support of graduates. Graduate donations are the main financial shareholders in educational institutions, especially Ivy League schools. The University of Princeton, for example, obtained nearly half of its donations-46.6 %-of the conditions in the academic year 2022-2023.

In Stanford specifically, most donations are directed towards annual giving via Stanford FundWhich spends money immediately on current operations, financial aid and other programs; Or it is provided – often – as gifts to calm the huge Stanford (running it Stanford Management Company), Which spends approximately 5 % annually on university operations, which represents approximately 22 % of the operating budget.

Universities are more dependent on graduates’ donations when facing external financial pressure, and new federal policies that target higher education have created unexpected and unprecedented budgets for institutions such as Stanford.

Stanford certain For San Francisco Chronicle last week, it will permanently lay off 363 employees, which is approximately 2 % of the administrative and technical workforce, due to what officials described as “continuous economic uncertainty” and “expected changes in federal policy”. These, the most prominent, include a huge increase in endowment taxes from 1.4 % to 8 % covered in the Trump administration.Beautiful beautiful bill“The law was signed last month.

This tax increase alone will cost Stanford by an estimated $ 750 million annually.