Whether you have gone to one or thought about having the full campus life experience, everyone knows that college is the place where students can get an education, learn new things, make friends, possibly find career opportunities, and have a fun time overall. However, there are two parents (who just happen to be famous and wealthy) that believed they had to cheat in order to get their kids "the best" education.
Famous actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman (who were more popular in the 90s) along with a "Full House" of 50 other individuals, got arrested for their involvement in a college cheating scam, known as Operation Varsity Blues. It was the biggest college scheme ever, where parents bribed college officials and cheated the system because they wanted their less educated and unqualified kids to get into the top universities in the nation.
All of these people were indicted for breaking federal laws. They committed this "American Crime" by bribing William Rick Singer, the CEO of a college admissions prep company known as The Key Worldwide Foundation, just so they could get their kids into a fancy college (this one happened to be the University of Southern California), but destroyed their careers in the process.
All those that were involved in the scam payed over $6 million in payments within the last decade. They bribed university employees from coaches to administrators just so their kids could get admitted to USC, along with other universities like Georgetown, Stanford, and Yale.
In order to get her oldest daughter extra time on the SAT test, "Desperate Housewife" Felicity Huffman paid $15,000 to Singer who allowed a proctor to change wrong answers. He was also guilty of paying administrators to do the same for other kids or take the test for them. Lori Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, paid $500,000 to display fake photos that showed their daughters as athletes, just to get them accepted into USC.
Anyone who was a fan of Loughlin and Huffman became ashamed and disgusted by their actions. College students of working class families have to study hard, learn skills, and earn their university degree. It's messed up how a CEO was so close-minded that he helped kids get into elite colleges just because their parents were so rich. In order to hide the payments wealthy parents were sending him, Rick Singer concealed them as donations given to the Key Worldwide Foundation, a nonprofit organization that Singer used specifically for this purpose. For each SAT exam, parents had paid Singer $15,000 to $75,000 to make sure their children scored high on their tests, while others bribed university officials directly.
If the children of wealthy parents want to get an education, they need to earn it. After all, they were born with silver spoons in their mouths, but not with degrees in their hands. Any celebrity that wants to be considered as a role model (and not just sources of entertainment), needs to start by setting a good example for their children.
