3/13/19
SAN FRANCISCO — "There can be no separate college admissions system for the wealthy," Andrew Lelling, U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts, said at Tuesday's press conference announcing charges against dozens of parents for paying bribes to get their children into some of the nation's elite universities. Some would argue there already is. Polls show that the vast majority of Americans believe college admissions should be based on merit, weighted toward students with the best grades and the highest test scores. But wealthy and influential parents routinely use their privilege to game the college admissions process. And it's all perfectly legal. A famous example involves Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, whose acceptance letter from Harvard University arrived not long after his father, who at the time was a wealthy developer, pledged $2.5 million to Harvard. Harvard also maintains a "Dean's Interest List" for applicants related to or with ties to top donors. Even more pervasive is a practice called legacy admissions, which greases the wheels for children of wealthy alumni and tends to favor affluent white students. Forty-two percent of private institutions and six percent of public institutions consider legacy status as a factor in admissions, according to a 2018 survey of admissions directors conducted by Inside Higher Ed. Harvard says legacy students make up around 14 percent of its undergraduate population. How much of an edge does legacy give students? A Princeton University study found that being a legacy applicant was the equivalent of adding 160 SAT points to a student's application. The acceptance rate for legacy applicants is two to three times higher the normal admissions rate.
At elite colleges, athletic recruiting is another preference largely conferred on well-to-do students engaged in such sports as lacrosse, crew, sailing and water polo, says Daniel Golden, author of "The Price of Admission: How America’s Ruling Class Buys Its Way into Elite Colleges — and Who Gets Left Outside the Gates." The FBI investigation, named Operation Varsity Blues, which ensnared actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman, uncovered an extreme but logical extension of a long history of preferences. Parents allegedly paid $200,000 to $6.5 million to William Rick Singer, who ran a college prep business in Newport Beach, California, to fabricate athletic profiles for their children that boasted fake credentials, honors and participation in elite club teams. Singer then bribed standardized test administrators and college coaches. “There is a front door of getting in where a student just does it on their own and then there’s a back door where people go to institutional advancement and make large donations, but they’re not guaranteed in,” Singer said in his testimony. "I created a side door that guaranteed families to get in." Harvard is being sued by a group of Asian-American applicants who say they were shut out by this informal system of preferences, including affirmative action. A ruling on whether on whether Harvard's policies are discriminatory is expected by June.
