Feds Break-up Wealthy College Admissions Fraud Ring

[Chance]

From The New York Times:

A teenage girl who did not play soccer magically became a star soccer recruit at Yale. Cost to her parents: $1.2 million.

A high school boy eager to enroll at the University of Southern California was falsely deemed to have a learning disability so he could take his standardized test with a complicit proctor who would make sure he got the right score. Cost to his parents: at least $50,000.

A student with no experience rowing won a spot on the U.S.C. crew team after a photograph of another person in a boat was submitted as evidence of her prowess. Her parents wired $200,000 into a special account.

In a major college admissions scandal that laid bare the elaborate lengths some wealthy parents will go to get their children into competitive American universities, federal prosecutors charged 50 people on Tuesday in a brazen scheme to buy spots in the freshman classes at Yale, Stanford and other big-name schools.

Thirty-three well-heeled parents were charged in the case, including Hollywood celebrities and prominent business leaders, and prosecutors said there could be additional indictments to come.

Also implicated were top college athletic coaches, who were accused of accepting millions of dollars to help admit undeserving students to a wide variety of colleges, from the University of Texas at Austin to Wake Forest and Georgetown, by suggesting they were top athletes.

I would like to note for the record: I was admitted to my regional, commuter college entirely on my own merits.

[RevolverRob]

Heard about this yesterday. It is both interesting and sad.

The one thing it is not, though, is surprising. Money buys influence and privilege.

For the record - I think I was definitely not admitted to my Alma Mater or PhD institutions based on my individual merits. A mysterious benefactor must have paid up. Why else would they have admitted me, come on you guys have seen how stupid I am.

Kidding, I don’t know anyone nearly rich enough to cough up even 10 grand to grease the wheels, lot alone 1.5 million.

[Kanye Wyoming]

I neglected to commit even a small misdemeanor to get either of my children into college. The other evening I sought their forgiveness for my failure as a father, and called for a period of reflection and healing.

[blues]

I'm shocked that there's anyone left to be shocked. This is the way things have been since...oh...forever.

It is fun to see some of these extra special elite sorts get outed and skewered a bit in the media, however. What with these highly cultured and sensitive artiste types telling the lowly commoners how they ought to think and be living at every one of their self-aggrandizing award shows.

Hoist with their own petard...

[mtnbkr]

This one is the most confusing:
A teenage girl who did not play soccer magically became a star soccer recruit at Yale. Cost to her parents: $1.2 million.

Wouldn't $1.2mil be enough to just pay for Yale and allow for a few bucks to grease some skids without the whole soccer player thing?

It's been nearly 30 years, but I looked at the cost to go to Harvard (just for fun, no actual intention of going there) when I was selecting a school back around 1989/90. Harvard, at the time, was $20k/year in tuition, so let's call it $40k/year to cover everything. Presumably Yale was similar. Even if you treble the costs and took 5yrs to get a degree, you're looking at half what her parents spent. Granted, you still have to get accepted, but I'm sure a "donation" of a couple hundred grand would help and still cost less than the figure quoted above.

It doesn't make sense.

Chris

[Glenn E. Meyer]

I would like to note for the record: I was admitted to my regional, commuter college entirely on my own merits.

Me too! My college dorm was my room from childhood and I took the bus to school. My admissions application had my SATs and GPA. Never wrote a poem how I loved the Earth and wanted to save the planet.

This story is just a extreme version of the elite college game. If you go to https://www.chronicle.com/ - the business paper of Higher Education you will see that no one is surprised. Money and hiring poor kids to be athletic showboat entertainers is a basic principle for these sort of admissions.

Coachs - my dad was in the pro athlete business and told me to:

1. Study
2. Never trust a coach

That mirrors the advice I'd give after being in Higher Education.

[the Schwartz]

This one is the most confusing:
A teenage girl who did not play soccer magically became a star soccer recruit at Yale. Cost to her parents: $1.2 million.

Wouldn't $1.2mil be enough to just pay for Yale and allow for a few bucks to grease some skids without the whole soccer player thing?

It's been nearly 30 years, but I looked at the cost to go to Harvard (just for fun, no actual intention of going there) when I was selecting a school back around 1989/90. Harvard, at the time, was $20k/year in tuition, so let's call it $40k/year to cover everything. Presumably Yale was similar. Even if you treble the costs and took 5yrs to get a degree, you're looking at half what her parents spent. Granted, you still have to get accepted, but I'm sure a "donation" of a couple hundred grand would help and still cost less than the figure quoted above.

It doesn't make sense.

Chris

No, it sure doesn't. The Liberal/Elites (not just the Hollywood-types these days who are proffering the ''do as I say, not as I do'' mentality) who have this kind of money (to burn) could simply educate their progeny themselves (with these bribes) and set them on their way with what amounts to a living fund and never have to worry about their kids' welfare after that allowing them to pursue whatever professional/vocational course they wish almost without limit. It is, instead, an irrational grasp for ever-greater status. It is a really pathetic state to be in, as there is so much more to life than that. Money/status might make certain things easier, but in the end as these folks demonstrate, it cannot buy personal actualization.

[vcdgrips]

It reportedly cost daddy Kurshner 2.5 mil to get Jared into Harvard re pledges for buildings

1.2 mil is not going to get it for Yale.

[Totem Polar]

This one is the most confusing:
A teenage girl who did not play soccer magically became a star soccer recruit at Yale. Cost to her parents: $1.2 million.

Wouldn't $1.2mil be enough to just pay for Yale and allow for a few bucks to grease some skids without the whole soccer player thing?


It doesn't make sense.

Yale went (essentially) tution free some number of years ago, after some tech alum gave them yet another 400mil. The motto is "if you can get into Yale, you can go to Yale." It’s the getting in part that’s a bitch, as the entire world competes for the free ride. (I had an extremely diligent and gifted student apply to many of the top grad schools in our shared discipline; he made it into—and recieved at least some sort of money offer—from ALL of them... except Yale. He didn’t get in there, the only school that denied admittance.)

At any rate, I have no problem believing that there are plenty of well-heeled/low ethic people worldwide willing to try and bribe their kid’s way in, now that affordability is no longer a barrier/obstacle to a majority of the applicants. Totally expected, under the current circumstances. As to other schools, sure, that’s easy to believe too.

ETA: the tech donation I was thinking of was actually Harvard, but Yale is sitting on plenty of endowment, withno land left to build or buy.

[Jay Cunningham]

What the hell is the point of being wealthy if you can't pull off shit like this??