In these cases, the merits of admitting a student based on their academic performance, test scores, and extracurricular activities are lowered by the donations of the applicant's family.
With development cases, a student whose academic performance and test scores are not enough to merit admission might instead be dependent on the donations the applicant's family may give.
[6][3] This low number is due to the decisions of the admissions director and the large amounts of money required to make a difference—in the millions of US dollars.
This case is specifically named by Daniel Golden's book The Price of Admissions: How America's Ruling Class Buys Its Way Into Elite Colleges—and Who Gets Left Outside the Gates.
Annual reports across the Ivies and beyond support the common knowledge logic that only alumni and their parents generally give back to universities (and have a reason to), especially well-funded ones.
The use of development cases has been compared to racial and legacy preferences because large donors tend to be from non-diverse backgrounds.
[17] An extensive analysis of donor giving concluded that some donations were made with the hope of a higher admissions probability for a child.