College entrance cheating scandal

[Floridaman999]

I've met a few people who graduated from Ivy League schools who I can only assume used money to gain the same type of advantages. They were quite evidently not the sharpest tools in the shed so to speak.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

They should have done it the honest way. Throw a couple of million in to get their kid in and a new building named after them.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Interesting. I looked up potential penalties for "felony conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud" and found https://www.greenspunlaw.com/library/basics-of-federal-mail-and-wire-fraud-charges-and-penalties.cfm. Specifically,
"
Penalties You Could Face If Convicted of Mail or Wire Fraud
You would face serious consequences if convicted of either mail or wire fraud. If you are convicted of mail fraud, you could be sentenced to the following:

• Prison sentence of up to 20 years
• Fines up to $250,000
• Probation
• Restitution"

I'm betting the celebrities get away with probation and a fine.

 

[RedAngie]

Felicity Huffman certainly is a desperate housewife to participate in such a scheme.


This case is about the widening corruption of elite college admissions through the steady application of wealth combined with fraud," Lelling said. "There can be no separate college admission system for the wealthy, and I'll add that there will not be a separate criminal justice system either."

 

[lifesavacation]

I've met a few people who graduated from Ivy League schools who I can only assume used money to gain the same type of advantages. They were quite evidently not the sharpest tools in the shed so to speak.

It’s not really about the intelligence one gains at these schools. It’s about the influence and power that you make through connections or in the reputation of going to an Ivy league school. So to me it only makes sense that these parents (I’m only talking about the parents who are involved in this scam) would use their wealth/influence/power to rig the system in their kids’ favor because that’s the whole point of why they want them there in the first place.

 

[Minnesota!]

So, Loughlin throws $500,000 at USC for her two daughters. But, isn't $500,000 way more than 2 college educations would have cost her? I don't understand the rationale here.

So disappointing. And, yes, a college education is a college education. You pay more for the name..

 

[DLgal]

Not surprising actually. What I do find interesting is that Loughlin did it to get her kids into USC, which is a good school but it’s not impossible to get into. Must be tough to be a celebrity and have kids who are average.

True. My sister went to USC (got accepted as an out of state student). She had good grades, certainly, but wasn't exceptional in any other way. She got academic scholarships that paid for the whole thing, though. She is now a kindergarten teacher.

I got into several prestigious schools (Two Ivy Leagues, one private university, and 2 highly ranked Univ. of California schools) based only on my SAT scores and GPA, and likely my writing ability (for those college entrance essays). I played a couple sports, joined a club or two, but again, wasn't "exceptional" in any way. I went to one of the UC's and got what I consider to be an excellent education. The Ivys and the Private didn't give me enough financial aid.

You don't get a better education at an Ivy League. You get networking opportunities for your future. That's the real value of those degrees.

 

[katie01]

So, Loughlin throws $500,000 at USC for her two daughters. But, isn't $500,000 way more than 2 college educations would have cost her? I don't understand the rationale here.

So disappointing. And, yes, a college education is a college education. You pay more for the name..

Exactly, that's what I was alluding to also. The purpose of the bribes wasn't to gain scholarships though, it was obviously for the "status" of attending elite schools. They could afford to send their kids wherever they wanted if they can afford half a million in bribes, but apparently money alone wouldn't be enough for their kids to get in if they didn't have the right test scores, grades, or achievement in activities

 

[Magical2017]

It's shameful. I am glad they were caught. I teach at a university (not an Ivy League) and am really disgusted by this story.

We plan to help our kids pay for college, but they have to do the work to get in. I feel like community college is a fine option if they are not ready for a four year college. There are also trade schools and other roads to educate yourself. You should never need to cheat. Ever.

 

[a1tinkfans]

It really makes me curious how much more challenging the actual class material is at a school like Harvard, vs your average state school. Do you really need a perfect ACT score to handle the workload? Are the parents buying good grades for these kids if they can't keep up with the classes? Or is the difficulty level about the same at all colleges, and they earn their "elite" status based on other factors?

Imho...It IS a different Overall education experience. The Professors, lecturers, the Caliber of the education is different.

Ever hear students tell u that their professor does not even have Command of the English language? Unable to actually “teach” and has their students read to learn on their own the entire semester?
Not an an Ivy.
Or professors that use their Own publications to “allegedly” teach .. students basically forced to buy their book/s yet never open it for class? Cha Ching, Sale made. Not seeing that at an Ivy. Their books are actually worthy.
Plus....
The Name recognition alone at the Elites Opens doors, networking, contacts.. it’s endless!
Ever think about the students who take a gap and then get admitted to an Ivy...
They often could not get in... but alas, their “ notable” name affords them the ability to
Get in the following year... after experiencing “ life”. Hmmmmm

You’re not asked ur grades at that Interview post Ivy graduation.
You wouldn’t have Gotten that Interview without that Ivy name attached to yours.

I find the actions of these Rich, famous, entitled people ...Despicable.

Any University with these students enrolled should be fully Investigating their Applications for Fraud.

Fraudulent applicants should be Removed. They ve done it before with cheaters.
The Reputations of these Universities and the Hardworking Attendees deserve nothing less.

Amazing how far some will go to cheat the System. And the IRS... a field day!

For all those that do it the correct way and the Universities that demand it...continue to set the Example of Excellence.

Rant Over..
Proud Parent

 

[JaxDad]

If they had been really smart, they would have skipped the whole middle part and just bought the degrees.

 

[Adelle Dazeem]

https://news.stanford.edu/2019/03/12/stanford-statement/

Stanford and its athletics programs have the highest expectations of integrity and ethical conduct. The university has been cooperating with the Department of Justice and is deeply concerned by these allegations. The sailing team head coach has been terminated.

 

[arminnie]

I’ve said this for some time. Locally, Tulane is not any better than the the big state schools. I’ve always known it to be if you can pay you can go.

Tulane's acceptance rate is less than 25%. I graduated from Tulane with a full scholarship. My parents could not afford to give me ANY help at all. I even earned the money to take the SAT and to apply.

I knew a young man from a very prominent New Orleans family who did not get in. A zillion of his relatives from great grands to parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. were Tulane grads.

It's always easier if you can pay out of pocket. I also got accepted to Vanderbilt - but I did not get a scholarship so I could not go there. I always say the hardest thing about getting my degree was paying for it. I graduated in 3 years (taking 21 hours sometimes) so I could go to work earlier and to borrow less money.

Thank goodness I ended up in New Orleans. Nashville vs New Orleans? So glad I am in New Orleans.

LSU has engineering programs that are not offered at Tulane. There are culinary programs at other colleges that are first rate. There's no one answer for everyone. I loved having classes that were usually less than 25 people. In my major many of my classes had 5 people.

 

[Colleen27]

I'm not surprised... but I do think it is interesting how selectively anyone seems to care, like there is an ethically meaningful line between bribing a coach or third-party "college coach" and just "donating" large sums to the school directly in exchange for preferential treatment. As far as I can tell, this is only news because the wrong people pocketed the money.

 

[arminnie]

Not surprising actually. What I do find interesting is that Loughlin did it to get her kids into USC, which is a good school but it’s not impossible to get into. Must be tough to be a celebrity and have kids who are average.

Thank you! My first reaction was "She had to pay all that money to get her into USC?" Really?

I am a Stanford grad (Biz School). We always referred to USC as University of Second Choice. One of my relatives graduated cum laude from USC. Her SAT scores never reached 500. (total) She's a very, very hard worker and only took about 3 courses at a time. Believe me that I respect her achievement. Her parents paid a lot of tuition money but they didn't have to bribe anyone to get her in. She just graduated about 5 years ago so this is fairly recent.

 

[arminnie]

They should have done it the honest way. Throw a couple of million in to get their kid in and a new building named after them.

I think these days it's more like 100 million or more to get a building named after you.

 

[lifesavacation]

I'm not surprised... but I do think it is interesting how selectively anyone seems to care, like there is an ethically meaningful line between bribing a coach or third-party "college coach" and just "donating" large sums to the school directly in exchange for preferential treatment. As far as I can tell, this is only news because the wrong people pocketed the money.

I hear what you're saying. Those huge donations, though, do go to help kids like mine attend college on scholarship so I guess I'm being hypocritical to be OK with it and not the admissions cheating.

 

[soccerdad72]

They should have done it the honest way. Throw a couple of million in to get their kid in and a new building named after them.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I think these days it's more like 100 million or more to get a building named after you.

I decided to save about 98 million and name the bathroom after myself.

 

[cabanafrau]

It may be interesting to watch this play out, or not. Many of our universities and colleges are struggling to address a very big cheating problem that really hasn't been discussed in the media to this point. If these indictments aren't going to disappear with payment of significant fines the attempt to push prosecution and punishment could run into a some interesting challenges.