Colleges Scandals: the plan all along

I know, you’re tired of hearing about the Rick Singer scandal. God knows we’ve talked about it enough. However-- have you ever stopped and thought about why exactly those parents spent such a huge sum of money on a place like USC? I mean, sure, USC’s great, but is it hundreds of thousands of dollars- on top of the other hundred twenty thousand in tuition- kind of great? You might say they’re paying so much because they want to guarantee a spot at a prestigious college, but what exactly does that mean?

Whatever prestige is, it must be valuable- so valuable that hundreds of parents paid Rick Singer an exorbitant sum just to ensure that their child got into a prestigious enough college- instead of one that might best suit their abilities or interests. Singer is far from the only link in this conspiracy to get kids in top colleges, which begs the question: what exactly are they getting out of this, for all this money? To take a line out of Unacceptable, the book the Varsity Blues documentary was based on: ‘Parents heard horror stories: he was captain of the lacrosse team, in 3 extra-curriculars, and had a 4.5 GPA, and he got in nowhere.’

Not to profile, but I doubt lacrosse captains at private high schools have a dire need for the enhanced wages that come from a college education. The reason this is so horrible to these parents is that their kid going to a state school or (god forbid!) not going to college lacks, well, prestige. It’s an extremely motivating factor not just because it means more resources- it’s how elite universities stay in business.

USC and the other not-so-countless colleges at the top of the rankings are in the market of convincing people that their particular college experience is invaluable, and they spend a lot of time and money creating that impression. Their network, their resources, their expansive programs and majors and opportunities and endless marketing are not just for students- they’re justifying a price tag. Some students at USC are paying 60k a year and they would not do so unless the price appears justified; the university needs to attract enough of these students from families that are well-off enough to not only not qualify for financial aid but to also reliably pay their (quite pricey) tuition in full. The shiny veneer of prestige has convinced these students and their families that they need the institution just as much as it needs them. The university’s financial wellbeing hinges on these kinds of families- that hire tutors and SAT prep counselors, or, in the extremes, bribe faculty and pay out the mouth to fake a sports record- in order to sustain itself.

Another excerpt from Unacceptable still holds water: you're not paying for the college, you're paying to be one of the families associated with the college. Concerned parents only think that USC is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars on top of the hundreds of thousands of dollars in four-year tuition because it's spent so much time and money making sure they jump to that conclusion. The online application process has lead to a complete influx in applications to top colleges, making them even more selective and bringing the national acceptances down- because we'd rather be in the "best" college we can get into rather than one that makes sense for our major or social priorities. At the end of the day, prestige education is like designer fashion; If you're not in it, you're nobody in the eyes of high society-- for the rest of the world, you're spending a lot when a little would have done the trick. But as long as we keep taking cues from the ultra-rich for what value is, we're just validating the predatory marketing schemes of the "elite" in education.