A bipartisan group of senators reintroduced legislation to ban legacy admissions, tying accreditation requirements to admissions policies that do not rely on alumni or donor relationships. The Merit-Based Educational Reforms and Institutional Transparency Act would define “preferential treatment” as requiring such ties to be determinative in admissions or related educational benefits. The bill would not bar colleges from considering “demonstrated interest,” but it requires those criteria to be public and accessible to all applicants. The proposal also includes language intended to allow religious institutions to maintain admissions decisions consistent with faith-based values. Sponsors framed the measure as moving the system away from aristocratic preference after the Supreme Court’s 2023 ban on race-conscious admissions and intensifying federal scrutiny in the wake of the Varsity Blues scandal. The bill signals that admissions governance—often left to institutional policy—may face renewed federal constraints through accreditation-linked mechanisms.