These past few days, a new scandal has hit the internet — and it doesn’t seem to be leaving any time soon.
College applications have never been an easy feat for hopeful and nervous high school seniors. With all the panic attacks that come with the fear of being rejected or waitlisted, it’s not a fun experience waiting to hear back from schools. And if you do perhaps get into the *school of your dreams,* you know that you worked your butt off to achieve something that you truly deserve.
Well, the same can’t be said for the students and families involved in the college admissions scandal that recently came to light. This scandal has brought to light the unfair advantages that come with college applications and admissions.
Recently, many parents, including actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin (yes, its aunt Becky) were accused of bribing college scouts to get their kids into elite schools. Most of the parents have paid from $200,000 to $6.5 million to have their kids admitted, according to msn. Loughlin has admitted to paying $500,00 to get her two daughters into USC via a crew team scholarship, when neither of her children played crew for the school.
The scandal includes bribing entry exam officials, cheating on exams (SAT, ACT), bribing coaches, bribing administrators and using charity orgs to cover up the whole scandal. The scandal was dubbed “Operation Varsity Blues,” according to the Washington Post.
Loughlin’s daughter Olivia Jade is a YouTuber with about 1.9 million subscribers and partnerships with various companies including Amazon and Sephora. Videos have resurfaced from Olivia’s channel that talk about how all she really wants from a college experience is “partying and tailgating” and that she “didn’t really care about college.” Also, reports have surfaced that Olivia didn’t actually fill out her own USC application. Her mother went to William “Rick” Singer, who is supposedly the ringleader, and he encouraged her to go elsewhere to get Olivia’s application filled out.
The parents that are being prosecuted from the scandal could potentially face jail time. Multiple coaches and others linked to the scandal have been fired. Lori Loughlin has been fired from Hallmark Channel and Olivia has lost most of her partnerships as a result of the scandal, according to USA Today. The other students involved in the scandal have been barred from registering for the next semester at USC.
Learning about the college scandal makes everyone realize that college admissions are completely unequal. It shines a light on how unfair the system can be to teens in an underprivileged situation when they try to apply to top universities. The unjust advantage that these obscenely rich students have over other students showcases that low-income students and students of color have the shorter end of the stick. And that is not OK. Between the standardized tests and the high tuition rates, applying for college is an exhausting and taxing ordeal. Seeing that these parents basically paved the way for their child’s success in an environment that the students didn’t earn is heartbreaking,
Unfortunately, there isn’t a definitive solution to stopping the cheating from happening again and that’s the saddest part. Hopefully, the people who are involved in the scandal get dealt with in a manner that is fair. Even more important, hopefully colleges can somehow fix the damage that has been done and open up more opportunities to students who actually deserve them.