William “Rick” Singer, owner of Edge College and Career Network, is accused of rigging college admissions for the rich and famous.
By Anna Rhoads
On March 12th, a college admissions scandal featuring prominent celebrities like Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman, was exposed. The scandal involved William Singer, a college admissions counselor, who helped wealthy families secure a place for their children at top colleges such as the University of Southern California and Stanford University. He did this by paying off test proctors, bribing coaches, and creating a network of college officials he could control.
When I first heard about the scandal I was immediately shocked. As a high school senior, I have spent countless hours studying for the SAT, filling out applications, and working on my extracurriculars. I could not believe that while I was doing that, other students were using their family’s wealth to secure their spots at preferred colleges. However the shock soon turned into anger.
Former Yale women’s soccer coach, Rudy Meredith—accused of allegedly accepting admissions bribes
The wealthy and famous bribing their way into the top schools is not anything new. The elite have been “donating” to schools and “befriending” the deans and admissions counselors for decades. Once I came to understand that, I stopped putting all the blame on people like Loughlin who are the face of the scandal, and I also started blaming the institutions that allowed them to cheat from the beginning. The U.S.’s thousands of colleges have created an unhealthy environment where money can get you to the top.
If it is not outright bribery, then it is legal donations and networking. If it is not donations or networking then it is expensive test prep and similar opportunities for their kids. No matter which way you look at it, the wealthy have a leg up. We have created an intensely competitive environment where people will do anything to get into a university. These celebrities are a product of this environment and have done shameful things to get their kids ahead. I do not believe their actions should be taken lightly—but once the dust settles and these families have paid for their actions, where will we be?
We need to get to the root of the problem. College is about providing an opportunity to better the lives of Americans by educating and helping them to succeed. We need to take the status and wealth out of it. No more “legacies” or automatic acceptances because your last name is on the front of a new library. Schools pretend they are a meritocracy, until they are offered a large enough check.
So while about 50 people were charged in the scandal, over a million students apply to college every year in the U.S.. Most of those students work hard and do not use their status or wealth to get in, or as Singer puts it, use the “side door.” The system is not totally rotten. However it definitely has its flaws. We need to start seeing this scandal for what it really is; change needs to happen in the college admissions process, where wealth should never be a factor in whether or not you’re accepted.
We call many of these schools, including the University of Southern California, “private,” however all but a handful of colleges in the U.S. get significant revenue from tax dollars. If the American people are supporting these institutions, we have a right to demand this kind of change from them.
Stanford sailing coach John Vandemoer also implicated in the college admissions scandal.