Buying your way into a prestigious university...

[Jerry1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by greydog17 Tried to post link to WSJ writer's commentary; "An Idiots Guide to Bribing and Cheating Your Way Into College" but subscription is req. If you can find it, its worth reading. Excerpt; "If the stunning racketeering, bribery and fraud charges presented Tuesday bear out, both groups of people will get what they deserve - prison sentences. Though I'd be in favor of turning the jail time into work release scrubbing toilets at nearest community college. At least they would be cleaning up after people who are trying to honestly earn their way through the education system."

I love it. I'm sure prison isn't fun at any level, but these guys will also cheat their way out of a regular prison and be treated better than any other prisoner. Seeing them literary cleaning up after college kids would be poetic. Might actually help them get grounded in reality again.

[Nick12]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omega YES! This exactly! I just can't wrap my mind around how unnecessary it is! Why not go the old fashioned route and make a huge donation for a new library or housing and your kids get in? At least this way the whole school benefits.

Being in the public eye is not for every millionaire or perhaps billionaire when it comes to donating to the school for their own personal reasons including for their own safety. There were a few out of towners kids that went to the Northeastern prep boarding school I attended that were from select countries in Europe/Asia. Mommy and Daddy donated huge amounts of money to school, did not want to be recognized and their kids were under different alias names while in school. Good guys all around I remember.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redbugdave Bribery always involves two sides. Do not blame just the rich parents. Blame goes all around...all the way to upper echelons of the colleges as well as the coaches and middlemen that make it happen. Now that the cat is out of the bag, do you think the colleges will refund the bribery money back to the parents for non-admittance? I don't think so. I have a lower opinion of the colleges than the parents for letting it happen. I think you will enjoy my by-line below.

Well the colleges weren’t bribed. Individual coaches were bribed.

[stepford]

I guess my question in all of this is what's the point? If your kid doesn't have the ability to get into a top ranked university then they'll just crash and burn when the serious work starts. I went to "name" schools and watched lots of kids flame out when they didn't have either the brains or discipline required.

Sneaking a kid into a school where they don't belong isn't doing anyone favors.

[youbet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShokWaveRider I never said it was, just another example where money talks. It appears to be the norm in a lot of capitalist countries, legal or otherwise.

Only capitalistic countries? I'm under the impression that payola is big biz in communistic or socialistic countries as well.

[Franklin]

Unfortunately I know one of these schools, a few of the higher (way higher ups). and some parents involved. This was not a surprise, never really talked about, and likely the tip of the iceberg. I have a child who was denied from one of these schools and it became clear to me that I needed to be or know a legacy and also make a donation that made the tuition seem small. So, while we know many legacy friends that made the cut, we opted for a route to college that the kids had to land on their own merit. I am confident my kids preferred it that way. So, we may see this go deeper than just the current headlines.

[Chuckanut]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redbugdave Now that the cat is out of the bag, do you think the colleges will refund the bribery money back to the parents for non-admittance?

The colleges did not receive the money, the dishonest coaches, test takers, and scheme masterminds got it. I see no moral or legal reason for the colleges to return the money. The colleges have their part to play in this sordid affair, but unjust enrichment due to criminal behavior doesn't not seem to be a part of it at this time.

[Bamaman]

My best friend went to Wharton to get his MBA in Finance. He always joked how the undergraduate students paid huge tuition fees to be in the Ivy League, however they never had a single class taught by the famous faculty members. They may well have been in a good state university for far less money--and transferred to Wharton for grad school.

My sister and I were in a big city state university, and my mother went to work to put us there with no student loans. But tuition my last semester was a whopping $192.50--a bargain. Most Southern state universities are around $4K per semester for in state tuition--still a bargain.

[Chuckanut]

I went to a public state college. In my major area about 90% of my classes were taught by PhD's. And the others were darn good, usually people with a Masters Degree who worked in the field.

[JAGOTI]

The silver lining is that maybe now the "Higher Education Admissions System" will be forced to become transparent.

I feel badly for the tens of thousands of Asians who have been systematically discriminated against for decades for the sin of being "too smart".

[marko]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAGOTI The silver lining is that maybe now the "Higher Education Admissions System" will be forced to become transparent.

One can hope but I worry that this will only send many such back-door, quiet admissions further underground. Sadly, I don't see any change ahead.

[Nick12]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAGOTI The silver lining is that maybe now the "Higher Education Admissions System" will be forced to become transparent. I feel badly for the tens of thousands of Asians who have been systematically discriminated against for decades for the sin of being "too smart".

+1

[marko]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bamaman My best friend went to Wharton to get his MBA in Finance. He always joked how the undergraduate students paid huge tuition fees to be in the Ivy League, however they never had a single class taught by the famous faculty members. They may well have been in a good state university for far less money--and transferred to Wharton for grad school.

Agreed.

And when you see Wharton/Harvard/Yale/Stanford on the resume, coupled to a "you should interview this guy" call from the Chairman of the Board, it's easy a good career move to stop asking too many hard questions and just hire away.

[joeea]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rayinpenn The truth be told the story made me sad..

Money talks. You can buy your way into college. You can buy your way out of jail. No surprise.

It is sad though.

[tmm99]

Call me jaded, but I thought you could get into any private university if you donated enough money. So why bother trying to up SAT scores? Or trying to fake athletic abilities to get into public schools?

[CardsFan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmm99 Call me jaded, but I thought you could get into any private university if you donated enough money. So why bother trying to up SAT scores? Or trying to fake athletic abilities to get into public schools?

Bold by me. The concept of spending $500,000 to get 2 kids into into USC just blows my mind. If you are going to spend that kind of money, at least shoot for the ivy league.

But, on a serious note, I find this whole thing disgusting. Parents, kids, everyone.

[CardsFan]

Side note. I had cousin that went to UCLA Law School (years ago, maybe 1965 or so). Even though he was living in CA at the time (while still in the Navy), he got the good advice to use his parents home in MA as his address, because they were trying to get more folks from outside CA. It worked. He is retired in CO today, I suspect with a pile of money.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by stepford I guess my question in all of this is what's the point? If your kid doesn't have the ability to get into a top ranked university then they'll just crash and burn when the serious work starts. I went to "name" schools and watched lots of kids flame out when they didn't have either the brains or discipline required. Sneaking a kid into a school where they don't belong isn't doing anyone favors.

Right. It’s really stupid.

[Gumby]

We touched on some of this in a thread about 5 years ago, which was started with a story about someone writing their daughter's application essay. http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...ons-74965.html

I feel the same now as I did then. The very worst thing that these parents did was to tell their children, in effect, "you're not good enough on your own."

[gerntz]

You also want to hide having much Asian DNA if you want an equal shot at getting into elite schools.
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