Some schools dole out funds for students who can trace their lineage to specific individuals—or just happen to have the same name; good news for Zolps and Scarpinatos
Descendants of major donors or graduates have long enjoyed an edge in admissions at many colleges. But legacy preference reaches even further at some schools, with money available for people who can trace their lineage directly to specific individuals, or who just happen to have the same last name.
Loyola University Chicago offers scholarships to Catholic students with the last name Zolp. A University of California scholarship gives preference to graduate students from Colombia and direct descendants from the family of the benefactor, Miguel Velez. Among more than a half-dozen “ancestry-based scholarships,” as Harvard University labels them, is one for descendants of Thomas Dudley, who served as governor of the Massachusetts Bay colony in the 1600s.
If the donors want to claim charitable deductions on their taxes, university fundraisers say, they have to make clear that lineage is just a preference, not an outright requirement. That way, the money will still be used when no namesakes are selected, and donors steer clear of what the IRS calls “private benefit.”
The University of Maine currently has 38 scholarships with stated preferences for descendants of a particular individual or family.
