Central students and faculty react to national college scam

Alana Cervera, Online Managing Editor

Eight schools including Yale, Wake Forest, Stanford and Georgetown universities, along with the University of Southern California, the University of San Diego, the University of Texas, Austin and the University of California, Los Angeles, are under investigation for their roles in a  college admissions scandal that recently made national news.

Students, admission counselors, parents, athletic coaches and standardized test administrators were all allegedly involved in the cheating at different levels.

Students at Central did not react well to the college scandal.

“It makes people feel worse about their achievements,” senior Cindy Lo said.

Senior Chris Xiu applied to Yale University and agrees.

“Money is always an advantage regardless,” Xiu said. “But I think it decreases [people’s] motivation to work hard if they know they’re being screwed out of their position.”

College and Career Center Coordinator Jean Childers thinks students believe the scandal affects them.

“I think a lot of students can rationalize that that’s another reason why I didn’t get in because people are cheating the system,” Childers said.

Childers communicates with many of the colleges involved in the scam.

“It’s disconcerting that there are people doing this,” Childers said. “I can imagine all colleges are going to distance themselves from this, and there’s going to be something they put in place to ensure [this] doesn’t happen again.”