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Lori Loughlin and husband sentenced in college bribery scandal

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Re: Lori Loughlin and husband sentenced in college bribery scandal

#81
It would be funny if the irs decided to go after all the people who legitimately donated To the development office to get their children admission, but took the full charitable tax deduction and didn’t subtract the fair market value for the admission... even funnier if they clawed back the universities tax free status or atleast back taxes on the donations as well.

Which brings me to, Wikileaks or someone should publish the FMV of quid pro quo admissions charity by college.

Re: Lori Loughlin and husband sentenced in college bribery scandal

#82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

USC had, as of last year, a $5.7B endowment. I suspect they don't really adjust their tuition based on the level of donations they get.

How do you think they got that endowment? :-)

By investing students fees in the stock market?

Re: Lori Loughlin and husband sentenced in college bribery scandal

#84
This whole thing strikes me as prosecuting drug users instead of the dealers. If someone is selling this, I promise there are going to be people looking to buy it. College admissions is just too emotionally fraught for people to make clear decisions consistently.

I assume it edged its way from plausible deniability to mutual culpability in a very subtle way. Amd I believe the fraudster was eventually colluding with the FBI. How is it not entrapment?

Re: Lori Loughlin and husband sentenced in college bribery scandal

#85

I have a very hard time getting even remotely upset about the college bribery scandal when it's both legal and encouraged for the truly rich to get their failsons 'legacy admissions' at selective colleges by donating multiple millions to the institutions. The people who have been prosecuted as part of this scandal aren't being prosecuted for devaluing earned degrees at selective colleges; they're being prosecuted for…

Not intending to change the subject - for what it’s worth I generally agree with you - but aren’t legacy admissions just a step above the lie that is meritocracy? Well resourced families produce children who go to good schools, have all sorts of help along the way, and signal correctly to end up in more prestigious institutions - and the rest is basically predetermined. Legacy admissions and what Lori Loughlin did are the same thing without the veil.

Re: Lori Loughlin and husband sentenced in college bribery scandal

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“ I was similarly bothered by this, and by the fact that nobody was worried that these students would fail out given that they cheated their way in.” You would be surprised at how difficult it is to fail out of programs. From what I’ve seen profs have an unwritten rule to not fail students from school admin, otherwise they might complain and so it’s easier to give a D than fail them completely.

Yeah, admissions isn't really about who can succeed at the school (since basically anyone who gets in will be fine). While you do get some education, I'd argue the majority of the value is the signalling the institutions provide by being selective. It's about forcing scarcity for social status.

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Re: Lori Loughlin and husband sentenced in college bribery scandal

#87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s more that “philanthropy” and “lobbying” are acceptable while “bribery” is not, even though sometimes the distinction is a pretty blurry line.

It’s more like everyone tries to get away with as much fraud as possible under the guise of plausible deniability, which “philanthropy” and “lobbying” provide. Let’s see all this “philanthropy” if tax deductible donations have to be anonymous.

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Re: Lori Loughlin and husband sentenced in college bribery scandal

#88
post #46
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've meant what is considered morally acceptable by an average American. I guess that you are describing who manages to get away with the corruption, rather than asserting that bribery by the rich is considered more acceptable that the bribery by the poor.

The average American approves of tipping. The average American approves of political donations when they agree with the political purpose. (donating to a hated politician is seen as corrupt, so Americans always see the opposing party as corrupt) The average American approves of open and fair ability to buy extra service. Paying ten million dollars to get a dumb kid into college is only tolerated, but it would be gene…

That was helpful. Thanks!

Re: Lori Loughlin and husband sentenced in college bribery scandal

#89

I have a very hard time getting even remotely upset about the college bribery scandal when it's both legal and encouraged for the truly rich to get their failsons 'legacy admissions' at selective colleges by donating multiple millions to the institutions. The people who have been prosecuted as part of this scandal aren't being prosecuted for devaluing earned degrees at selective colleges; they're being prosecuted for…

that's odd reasoning. if you're upset with one thing, you should be upset with both. they're both erosions of the foundational principles that hold a society together, with corruption, bribery, lying, self-dealing and a whole host of other upper-crust criminal activity just sliding right by for the moneyed, with punishments perverted to be lighter for greater amounts of societal harm. that all create the us-vs-them dynamics that breaks societies apart.

Re: Lori Loughlin and husband sentenced in college bribery scandal

#90
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it feels more like they're getting punished for getting a discount and not giving the universities the bribe directly (likely because the actual 'fee' for getting your kid in is more than they could afford). I was similarly bothered by this, and by the fact that nobody was worried that these students would fail out given that they cheated their way in. Says a lot about the actual signalling value vs. educationa…

In private schools, "gentleman B grades" are given. Professors know this. Compare that with public schools like UC Berkeley.

That matches the experience of a few friends at VA state schools (UVA and VT). You could definitely fail out. At least this was the case back in the 90s. If you had below a C average, you went on academic suspension for a semester (or year?), then you were allowed to try again, but at that point you were so far behind that getting the GPA back to an acceptable level was really hard.
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