UHND.com - Notre Dame Football, Basketball, & Recruiting

required, is documented evidence of why Private Universities feel the need to allow Legacy admissions...from the attached Wiki page (with references)...
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Legacy preference or legacy admission is a preference given by an institution or organization to certain applicants on the basis of their familial relationship to alumni of that institution.[3] It is most controversial in college admissions,[4] where students so admitted are referred to as legacies or legacy students. The practice is particularly widespread in the college admissions in the United States; almost three-quarters of research universities and nearly all liberal arts colleges grant legacy preferences in admissions.[5]

Schools vary in how broadly they extend legacy preferences, with some schools granting this favor only to children of undergraduate alumni, while other schools extend the favor to extended family, including: children, grandchildren, siblings, nephews, and nieces of alumni of undergraduate and graduate programs.[6] A 2005 analysis of 180,000 student records obtained from nineteen selective colleges and universities found that, within a set range of SAT scores, being a legacy raised an applicant's chances of admission by 19.7 percentage points.[7]

Legacy preferences are controversial, as the legacy students tend to be less qualified and less racially diverse than non-legacy students.[8] However, legacy students are economically beneficial to universities, as they are perceived to be more likely to donate to their university after graduation and have parents who are perceived to be more generous donors.[8] Legacy preferences are particularly prevalent at Ivy League universities and other selective private universities in the United States.[9]
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Currently, the Ivy League institutions are estimated to admit 10% to 15% of each entering class using legacy admissions.[21] For example, in the 2008 entering undergraduate class, the University of Pennsylvania admitted 41.7% of legacies who applied during the early decision admissions round and 33.9% of legacies who applied during the regular admissions cycle, versus 29.3% of all students who applied during the early decision admissions round and 16.4% of all who applied during the regular cycle.[22] In 2009, Princeton admitted 41.7% of legacy applicants—more than 4.5 times the 9.2% rate of non-legacies. Similarly, in 2006, Brown University admitted 33.5% of alumni children, significantly higher than the 13.8% overall admissions rate. In short, Ivy League and other top schools typically admit legacies at two to five times their overall admission rates.[23] Among top universities, the University of Notre Dame and Georgetown University are known to weigh legacy status heavily in their application processes.[24]
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As for academic qualifications...see the Wiki article chart...

Private Universities, especially...like Notre Dame...need Private donations...which often come from wealthy graduates...not taxpayers of the state they are in. Surely you can grasp the reality of this situation. And...a Religiously Oriented University...like ND...is very likely to use some of those donations to advance programs they believe strongly in...like "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion"...there you have it...all in a simple, easy to understand 'Nutshell'...you're welcome.


Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legacy_preferences