Actresses, others caught in faulty admissions

Actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman, along with other wealthy parents, were caught bribing their children’s way into colleges including Yale, UCLA, Stanford, and Georgetown. The 33 parents involved in and arrested for the scandal paid from $250,000 to as much as $6.5 million to assure admission.

Loughlin and Huffman, along with 13 other parents, attended court in Boston on Wednesday, March 28. Most students involved in the scandal had no idea that it was going on. Those who did, however, are facing possible arrests. Police say that there are still other parents walking around who haven’t been caught yet.

“One thing that I think is well known is that sometimes wealthy people may donate money to create buildings or things like that at universities and while technically they’re not considered bribes, often the children of those people will gain admittance to the university,” lead counselor Glenda Simmons said.

Some of these parents did in fact donate, but instead putting their money towards campus construction, they sent it to a fake charity. The so-called “charity” was composed by William “Rick” Singer, an admissions consultant, as a way to transfer the money in the scam.

Athletic profiles were forged and students were recruited to the college sports teams to boost some students’ chances of admittance. After they began the school year, however, the students never showed up for any sports event to match their profiles or very quickly quit the team.

Other parents in the scandal put their money towards enhancing their student’s SAT and ACT scores. Test administrators would then fix their incorrect answers or complete tests to guarantee the students a high score. Some students were even able to take their exams over multiple days after getting diagnosed with a learning disability.

“It can be very discouraging to know that some people did not earn their spot into the college,” Simmons said. “And if the student is working hard and didn’t get in, they have to wonder, ‘Did I not get in because I really didn’t get in or did I not get in because somebody unfairly got in?’”