Then that is a really weird passage. HBCUs are a purely American thing. Legacy admissions are a purely American thing. Paying to get your kids into a university

Then that is a really weird passage. HBCUs are a purely American thing. Legacy admissions are a purely American thing. Paying to get your kids into a university is a purely American thing. Also, the author uses the American spelling "curb". If they do live in London, they are presumably a migrant from the US.