Absolutely not. There is no inherent merit in being part of a "legacy", and I say this as a blue blood. I'm glad I had to attend both private (mid and half of high school) and public (half of high school and uni) education without any difference whatsoever in respect to other studends. I was even moved to a different city for the last two years of high school because my parents didn't think it was healthy for everyone to know who I was, a sentiment which I shared to the point I moved to a different country altogether on my own volition when I had to pick a university.
The only criteria for entry in universities should be merit and merit alone, anything else is affirmative action, nepotism and/or corruption. All of which are equally abhorrent.
As far as athletic scholarships go, they're utterly unfathomable to me, and I'm pretty sure that the overwhelming majority of Europeans feel the same.