America to elite colleges: Shape up (but please let us in).
Students walk on the Stanford University campus in Santa Clara County, California. In the first lawsuit to come out of the college bribery scandal, several students are suing Yale, Georgetown, Stanford, and other schools named in the case, saying they and others were denied a fair shot at admission.
Ben Margot/AP
Photoshopping a student鈥檚 head on an athlete鈥檚 body. Bribing proctors to fix exam scores. The charges in the college admissions scandal read like a made-for-TV script.
But beyond the immediate flow of outrage, calls are coming to hold a prism up to the spotlight and examine a whole rainbow of critiques of higher education. One is focused on the seeming reluctance of wealthy campuses to promote social mobility rather than replicate privilege. Another seeks to tamp down the pressure placed on teens to land a spot at a tiny number of elite schools.
Many who would like to see reforms feel impatient for change, but it can be slow in a system comprising thousands of diverse and autonomous institutions.
Why We Wrote This
Analyzing what鈥檚 wrong with college admissions became a pastime for Americans this week. At the heart of the discussion is a desire for fair opportunities to get ahead.
鈥淗igher education, for a host of complicated reasons, has become one of those social institutions that people love and hate at same time,鈥� says Barmak Nassirian, director of聽federal policy at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.
The larger societal backdrop, he suggests, is a breakdown of people鈥檚 faith in America as a land of opportunity, which is听鈥�taking a back seat to a more grim reality of economic anxiety. People are looking for pathways鈥�. Society should be able to tell its youngsters what it is they can concretely do to get ahead.鈥�
Beyond just catching people who go to the extreme of breaking the law in order to get their kids through a 鈥渟ide door,鈥� many say there鈥檚 a need for scrutiny of elite schools鈥� admissions practices, their relationship with donors, and their competition in college rankings. Low-income and first-generation students continue to face steep barriers to top schools.
Members of Congress from both parties have called for hearings and more oversight in the wake of the scandal.
鈥淚 will soon be introducing legislation that would end the tax break for donations made to schools before or during聽the聽enrollment聽of children of the donor鈥檚 family,鈥� said Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, in a statement March 13. 鈥淚f the wealthy want to grease the skids, they shouldn鈥檛 be able to do so at the expense of American taxpayers.鈥�
A silver lining?聽
College admissions officers share the goal of a fair process that broadens access to college, says Todd Rinehart, who led the rewrite of the ethics code for the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) and oversees enrollment at the University of Denver.
鈥淥ur profession doesn鈥檛 need a scandal to remind us of our ethical obligations鈥�. The silver lining in this scandal is that more schools might take a deeper dive to analyze inequities and barriers that exist on their campuses,鈥� he writes in an email interview.
Admissions officers haven鈥檛 been implicated in the federal case against 50 people.聽Dubbed 鈥淥peration Varsity Blues,鈥� it is聽the largest such investigation by the FBI, allegedly involving $25 million in bribes to get students into top schools.
But the relationship between admissions and athletic departments is a focal point of discussion because college coaches 鈥� in sports such as water polo, tennis, and sailing 鈥� are among those accused of taking bribes to put students on their list of recruits.
William 鈥淩ick鈥� Singer, CEO of the Edge College & Career Network LLC (鈥淭he Key鈥�), a college consulting company, said he was at the center of such schemes聽and pleaded guilty March 12 in Boston to racketeering, fraud, money laundering, and obstruction of justice. The institutions, such as Yale, UCLA, and Georgetown, were not targets of the investigation, and no students have been charged.
But even selective admissions practices that are legal are in need of reform, says Daniel Golden, author of 鈥淭he Price of Admission: How America鈥檚 Ruling Class Buys Its Way into Elite Colleges 鈥� and Who Gets Left Outside the Gates鈥� and senior editor at ProPublica.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a series of rules I would love to adopt if I was the 鈥榗zar,鈥� 鈥� he says. 鈥淚 would eliminate legacy preferences 鈥� [and] preferences for recruited athletes in sports that only rich people play.鈥� He would also make admissions officers recuse themselves when they know an applicant鈥檚 family.
The schools haven鈥檛 adopted such ideas, says Mr. Golden, a graduate of Harvard, because 鈥渢hey鈥檙e scared to imperil fundraising.鈥�
Rare criminal cases shouldn鈥檛 be used to paint the whole system as corrupt, Mr. Rinehart and other higher-ed administrators say. Athletic recruits, legacy applicants, or students with special talents 鈥渕ay be given additional consideration, but that doesn鈥檛 always equate to offers of admission,鈥� he says.
As the husband of the University of Denver鈥檚 gymnastics coach, Mr. Rinehart recuses himself from the review of any gymnastics prospects.
If someone suspects an ethical violation in a college鈥檚 admission process, they can report it to NACAC for investigation.
On Wednesday, March 13, some students filed a class-action lawsuit聽seeking the return of application fees from the eight schools named in the charges, saying rejected applicants deserved a process free from fraud. And a mother whose son was rejected from one of the schools filed a class-action suit against dozens of the accused individuals.聽聽
鈥淭he collateral damage is the kids. That鈥檚 the sad thing,鈥� said Donald Heller, an attorney for Mr. Singer, who hung his head as the two left the federal courthouse in Boston after the hourlong hearing. 鈥淗e鈥檚 remorseful for getting involved,鈥� Mr. Heller added. The charges could carry up to 65 years in prison, though Mr. Singer is cooperating and hoping for leniency.
Obsession with select schools聽
While damage may have been caused to students whose parents were charged, the broader concern is about the degree to which people fixate on brand-name schools.
鈥淯nderlying all of this is an unhealthy and unnecessary obsession by some parents to push their children into a select number of colleges even though our country offers many聽excellent choices among the best colleges and universities in the world,鈥� Sen. Lamar Alexander, the Republican chairman of the Senate education committee, said in a statement emailed to the Monitor.
Among similar applicants, those who attend elite schools and those who attend less selective schools end up earning about the same later in life (although it does make some difference for low-income students), .
For such students, it鈥檚 not the college but their 鈥渁bility and motivation and willingness to work hard [that] are the primary factors affecting success and satisfaction,鈥� says Joshua Dunn, a political science professor at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs.
Changing mindsets, regulations
But that message is hard to get through to students and parents who think they have a shot at those coveted elites. The highly selective colleges are partly to blame because they court way more students than they will ever accept, says Sally Rubenstone, senior contributor for College Confidential, an online advice and discussion forum.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 tell you how many times a student has said to me, 鈥榃ell, I wasn鈥檛 going to apply to Harvard, but I got this letter suggesting I apply, and now my dad says I have to,鈥� 鈥� she says.
The fee-based college-advising sector could be ripe for regulation, especially in the wake of this scandal, but with such a high ratio of students to counselors in high schools, many families will continue to pay for help in choosing, applying, and financing college.
One refreshing trend, Ms. Rubenstone says, is that more are becoming wary of taking on too much debt. 鈥淚 get questions from students who say 鈥業 got into my dream school, which is an Ivy, but I can also go to this public university on a merit scholarship.鈥� 鈥�
Taking another view of mounting college debt, Mary Clare Amselem,聽policy analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation, advocates for reducing federal loans to force schools to lower prices to attract students. To get higher education to become less oriented around fancy degrees and more responsive to the workplace, she also proposes to 鈥渞evamp the accreditation system to encourage innovation.鈥�
The current model focused on brick-and-mortar campuses 鈥渕akes it very difficult for innovative new providers to come in 鈥� to train the future workforce,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hey have a very hard time competing with the Harvards of the world.鈥�
Noble Ingram contributed to this story from Boston.