The College Admission Bribery Scandal Affects Community College Students
By Aisha Schor | Observer Contributor
The college admissions scandal is disappointing and discouraging to the many students nationwide who make the genuine investment and commitment to attend college. It hits particularly hard for community college and non-traditional students given that the obstacles they have to overcome to continue their education are often greater than the average student.
Over the past few weeks it has been investigated and proven that numerous well-known celebrities and wealthy parents are willing to cheat and scam the system to get their children accepted into elite colleges and universities across the country. Some take the route of bribing SAT/ACT test proctors into changing their children’s answers/test scores. Others falsely claim their children play varsity sports, getting them admitted through fake sports scholarships.
Rachel Fortier, a student ambassador and Media Arts major, said, “I grew up with six siblings, and none of them felt like they could ever make it into college, myself included. So I felt very disappointed to see that other people don’t have to work as hard as I do to get into their dream school.”
With a passion for TV production and stop-motion animation, Fortier plans to transfer after completing her associates degree. “I have applied to multiple schools. Michigan School of Art and Design, Emerson School of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, and L.A. Film School. Any one of these would be amazing, but for the exact career path in stop-motion I want to take, I hope Emerson accepts me.”
Like many high school and community college students who want to transfer and get accepted into college, Fortier is working hard to build a portfolio and get involved on campus to elevate her chances of getting accepted. “Hopefully, I can gather up enough portfolio work to help me get into my dream school,” said Fortier. “I am currently working on a stop-motion movie, as well as a horror movie. Both are hard, but in their own ways.”
This scandal also demonstrates the great imbalance of wealth and higher education and is a reminder that privilege, opportunity, and therefore success, often have little relationship to hard work. Fortier also spoke to how she felt about the scandal, saying, “To be honest, I’m not surprised at all; I’m sure this has gone on for a long time. The fact that they can solve their problems with money isn’t a shocker.” When asked about why she thinks the issue is getting so much publicity now Fortier said she believed it was in part generational. “I think the thing about our generation is that we are more outspoken which can be good and bad, but at least we’re giving our culture a voice. I think that’s why it’s getting an uproar now because our generation is seeing flaws in so many things and we’re finally speaking up about it.”
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