Everyone has seen the headlines in the news surrounding the college admissions scam. Celebrities such as Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman and many other wealthy families bribed college coaches and ACT/SAT administrators to get their children into elite colleges.

There were two main ways the parents scammed their children into schools. They either paid off college coaches to list their child as a recruit for a sport or found a way for their student to cheat on their ACT/SAT. They completed the latter by paying administrators to correct answers or getting someone else to take the test for their child.

The scandal sparked outrage in parents and children throughout the country. Some students, who were rejected from colleges involved in the lawsuit, and their parents filed a lawsuit against the colleges because their admissions decisions may have been affected by the fraud.

Colleges have been forced to respond to the concerns of parents and students. Some of the main colleges involved were UCLA, USC, Georgetown, Stanford, and Yale. Many of the schools are conducting full investigations into current and past students. They are also instituting new policies to prevent college coaches from doing this again.

With colleges admissions being on the mind of many students at VHS and high schools everywhere, the scandal hit very close to home. Many students have seen their friends, siblings, or even themselves apply to the schools that were involved. Students had a wide range of reactions to the scandal.

Some students were not surprised by the scandal and always assumed this occurred. senior, Julia DiGeronimo says “I was not shocked by this. Celebrities think they deserve more and would do whatever they want to get their children into elite schools, even when they do not deserve it.”

Other students, such as senior Colleen Whelan, were very angry about the situation because of the other students that were rejected from these schools because of the place the unqualified celebrity’s child took. “I was very annoyed by the scandal because it took away a spot from a deserving student.”

The college admissions scam is a strong reminder of the many ways the wealthy can use money to get ahead. Hopefully schools will work hard to stop this injustice from happening again and the college admissions process can be fair and just.