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Mass College Admission Cheating Scandal

Js1

By Js1
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Not a cat

Not a cat 5658

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46 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

True enough.  My Dad had gone to SMU on the GI Bill, and I was a late, adopted child.  So my parents had saved sufficiently to pay for SMU, not realizing it was among the most expensive schools in the country at the time (~$400/hour vs. $4 for Texas), so I was set from a financial standpoint.

 

How the hell does anyone within 200 miles of DFW, much less an SMU alum, not realize SMU is expensive as hell?  Even if he was on the GI bill, he had to have some idea how much it cost.

I think I'm roughly the same vintage as twicehorn (began UT in Fall 87) and I vaguely remember sending my SAT scores to UT and that's about it.  I don't remember exactly what else was required but it could not have been too complicated if my mess of a teenage self was able to handle it.     

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jimmyjazz
jimmyjazz

What do we have to do to get Shaka Smart on that list?

MirrOlure
MirrOlure

Meanwhile, the SEC scratches their collective head.... “PLAYERS pay the COACH?”  

C-Man
C-Man

SIAP

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jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 45963

Posted
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Call me a softie, but I have a problem taking away a degree from a kid who actually thought he or she was granted admission on merit.

That said, I don't know how a lack of complicity could be proved.  WIthout criminal investigations, what school would have the ability to uncover documents showing a given student was in on the fraud?  If a student completed their degree by meeting the performance standards required of the university, then the degree should stand, absent proof of involvement.

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DaysOff

DaysOff 7951

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Weird.  I just sent my SAT score to UT and got a letter back saying "you're in."  I also applied to Plan II and Honors Engineering, and for some small merit-based 'ships, which were all more like a private school and a bit of a hassle.  I can't imagine that Austin College, Trinity, and SMU were any easier to apply to.
But I was one of the last years where you could get in on test score alone.  But, as I recall (and I may be confusing LSAT here), didn't CTS do a distillation of your high school transcript also that you could send along with your SAT score?
 
That's how I got in in 85. My SAT wasn't that stellar either as I only took it once and a class rank around 11%.
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The Golden Hat

The Golden Hat 299

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1 hour ago, Catdaddyhorn said:

They had the same progressive scale during the 90s. Top 10% and maybe 1000 or 1100 was an auto admit. Top 20% meant you needed 1200 or something to get an auto admit.  And of course they had the provisional program if you didn't meet the auto admit requirements or get in holistically. One of the results of this process is we had a lot more out of state students back then.  Just compared to my brother who got in 4 years after me in 99 there were way more kids from places like California and New York in my friend group than his. 

I transferred in after a year of JUCO, and I remember the standard being crazy high for transfers. This was 2002. You pretty much needed to have a 4.0 (and other skins on the wall) or they wouldn't even consider it. I had a 3.9 and was shocked when I got my acceptance letter.

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Catdaddyhorn

Catdaddyhorn 3446

Posted
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23 minutes ago, The Golden Hat said:

I transferred in after a year of JUCO, and I remember the standard being crazy high for transfers. This was 2002. You pretty much needed to have a 4.0 (and other skins on the wall) or they wouldn't even consider it. I had a 3.9 and was shocked when I got my acceptance letter.

Coming in after the top 10% rule and the CAP program probably made it more difficult for transfers.  I think the top 10% rule started with the 98 or 99 graduating high school class.  Hopwood affected the 97 class,  but it took a year or so before they created the top 10% rule in the interim.  

Edited by Catdaddyhorn
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ImissWallyPryor

ImissWallyPryor 9046

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2 hours ago, gecko said:

In 1976 I was likely not in the top 50% at my HS - I was an unmotivated mess.  I had an 1150 SAT, I think my ACT was a 28.  I got in to UT no problemo.....

In 1979, I think the SAT cutoff for top 50% was 1200, perhaps higher. A 28 on the ACT might have gotten you in, but I’m not sure if you weren’t even in the top 50%  (T&P coming your way).

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31488

Posted
Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, Not a cat said:

How the hell does anyone within 200 miles of DFW, much less an SMU alum, not realize SMU is expensive as hell?  Even if he was on the GI bill, he had to have some idea how much it cost.

I think I'm roughly the same vintage as twicehorn (began UT in Fall 87) and I vaguely remember sending my SAT scores to UT and that's about it.  I don't remember exactly what else was required but it could not have been too complicated if my mess of a teenage self was able to handle it.     

Why would parents of an only child, when there's a local, decent, but not great school, be aware that SMU had extraordinarily high tuition?  I graduated HS in 84 before SMU was a household name for profligate spending of all types.  It was just assumed that that was what college was going to cost, with allowances for public/private and other variations.  It sort of represented average to them.  $4 a semester hour was almost incomprehensible.  Dallas County Community Colleges were more than that, $32/hour I believe.

I don't know when it became really expensive.  Maybe it always has been.  By the time I was looking at colleges, we were aware that they could afford just about any place without further sacrifice.  My parents were maniac savers.

But before the scandals in the 80s, nobody really thought of SMU as some expensive haven for rich spoiled brats who partied a lot and did tons of drugs.  It's where a lot of people in Dallas went to college.  Fin.

Edited by TwiceHorn
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Armybrat

Armybrat 40850

Posted
Posted (edited)
4 hours ago, hayden_horn said:

haha, that was definitely the experience i had in the late 90s. however, once you get into junior and senior level classes (at least in liberal arts), it became less of a weeding out process and more educational.

Early 1960s - English 301 was one of the primary weed out courses.

Back then the primary entrance requirements were to possess a functioning respiratory system and the $100/semester tuition cash.

Edited by Armybrat
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FartingMonk

FartingMonk 3608

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Posted
On 3/22/2019 at 4:46 PM, Catdaddyhorn said:

Tuition went from about $1400 a semester to about $4500 a semester between 1995 and 2002. Maybe more. I'm just going off of what I remember about my sister's freshmen year. 

 

It was 1900 a semester if you took 12+ hours in 2001.  In the spring of 2003 I believe was when it jumped.  I was working for the senate when it came out.  Tuition deregulation.  The next semester Tuition had gone up to 2700 a semester. 

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31488

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22 minutes ago, FartingMonk said:

It was 1900 a semester if you took 12+ hours in 2001.  In the spring of 2003 I believe was when it jumped.  I was working for the senate when it came out.  Tuition deregulation.  The next semester Tuition had gone up to 2700 a semester. 

Yeah, I looked back (in another context) and tuition started to explode about 2003, which corresponded with legislative deregulation of tuition.  The state had started cutting support about 1998 IIRC.  I'm not counting when Ann Richards and the lege doubled and tripled it in the late 80s/early 90s, from 4 to 8 to 12, which was pretty controversial.

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KaiserSoze

KaiserSoze 998

Posted
Posted

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah, I looked back (in another context) and tuition started to explode about 2003, which corresponded with legislative deregulation of tuition.  The state had started cutting support about 1998 IIRC.  I'm not counting when Ann Richards and the lege doubled and tripled it in the late 80s/early 90s, from 4 to 8 to 12, which was pretty controversial.

 For reference I looked at tuition rate increases during my time at Texas Tech (Fall 1992 - Spring 1996). During that time tuition rates increased 62%. I looked it up back in 2004 as part of a discussion on Hornfans, so I might be off a point or two memory-wise but either way that's a pretty substantial increase in 4 years. That said, I'm not trying to minimize how fucked up the amplification of the trend has been since then.

 

 

 

 

 

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bigup2dahorns

bigup2dahorns 3343

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CNBC:

Yale University has rescinded the admission of a student linked to the national college admissions scandal that implicated 50 people, including celebrities, coaches and administrators, in paying and accepting bribes to get students into elite colleges.

Thomas Conroy, Yale University spokesman, told CNBC the university "has rescinded the admission of one student as a result of this matter," but did not identify the student's exact association with the school.

It's the latest university response to the scheme in which students — most of whom did not know about their parents' actions, prosecutors say — begin to face a reckoning. Federal prosecutors have said the schools are victims in the scam.

The former Yale women's soccer coach, Rudy Meredith, was charged with taking a $400,000 bribe to accept an applicant who did not play soccer, according to the indictment. Meredith resigned and will plead guilty to fraud-related charges.

Last week, the University of Southern California blocked students linked to the scandal from registering for classes and getting their transcripts, and said it had identified six current applicants associated with the indictment and would reject them.

Other universities implicated include Georgetown, UCLA, the University of San Diego, the University of Texas and Wake Forest.

A class-action lawsuit has been filed by several college students against 8 universities in connection with the scheme. The suit claims more than $5 million in damages and accuses each school of being "negligent in failing to maintain adequate protocols and security measures in place to guarantee the sanctity of the college admissions process."

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bigup2dahorns

bigup2dahorns 3343

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AAS:

Federal education officials have opened preliminary investigations into admissions practices at eight universities tied to a bribery scandal, including the University of Texas.

The U.S. Department of Education is looking into whether the schools violated any laws or rules, including those governing federal student financial aid programs, according to a report by Politico.

Federal prosecutors arrested Longhorns tennis coach Michael Center on March 12, accusing him of accepting $100,000 in 2015 to help a California student with minimal tennis accolades gain admission into the school as a scholarship athlete. Center was fired the following day, part way through his 19th season with the program.

"UT received a letter from the Department of Education regarding its preliminary national investigation," university spokesman Gary Susswein said Tuesday in a statement. "We will be working with DOE officials and responding to a series of questions from them regarding admissions, while we also conduct our own internal review, which is under way."

UT President Gregory L. Fenves previously said the university's review is intended to determine whether admissions practices need to be modified to prevent future problems. "The integrity of UT admissions is essential to our mission as a research university and to the students and families we serve," Fenves said. "That is why any act of wrongdoing, no matter how singular, matters so deeply."

The Education Department also sent letters to Yale University, Wake Forest University, the University of San Diego, Stanford University, Georgetown University, the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles.

All told, federal prosecutors have accused about 50 people, including many parents of students, of conspiring to circumvent admissions at the schools. Those who were charged or indicted include top business executives, nine athletics coaches and actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin.

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HRSchenker

HRSchenker 2268

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UT Hoops manager was admissions cheat client

https://sportsbybrooks.com/univ-of-texas-hoops-manager-was-admissions-cheat-client/

Quote

One of the nine NCAA coaches nabbed in Singer’s criminal enterprise was University of Texas head tennis coach Michael Center, who was heard on a FBI wiretap confirming to Singer that he had received nearly $100,000 from the ringleader, “in exchange for which Center would designate a student as a recruit to the (UT) tennis team, thereby facilitating his admission to (UT).”

Details of the enormous bribes provided to Singer and Center by the parent of the student who ultimately gained admission to the University of Texas were also included in the complaint, but unlike dozens of other parents caught conspiring with Singer in similar criminal complaints, the parent in the case involving Center was not named – let alone indicted.

In reporting the news of the charges against Center, the DAILY TEXAN reported last week:

Those within the University investigating the incident believe it is isolated and does not involve any other employees.

While that may indeed be the case, a testimonial and image that SportsbyBrooks.com has obtained from Singer’s now-deleted website may prove otherwise.

On the March 12, 2019, the day the U.S. Justice Department first announced the case against Singer and 49 other defendants, a testimonial from University of Texas student Michael Chiu-Schaepe could be seen on the the front page of a website owned and operated by Rick Singer.

The University of Texas basketball media guide listed Chiu-Schaepe, whose father is mega-wealthy venture capitalist Christopher Schaepe, as having been a team manager for the 2015-16 season – which was current Texas head basketball coach Shaka Smart‘s first season with the Longhorns.

In addition to Michael Chiu-Schaepe’s connection to the school, the record of a $100,000 donation to the University of Texas Moody College of Communications from Jennie Chiu and Christopher Schaepe can be found on the University’s official website.

 

 

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Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54238

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Posted (edited)
5 hours ago, Wally Fairway said:

Why not, I'm guessing it was a billionaire who paid that much, so it would be like me paying someone a quarter to get my kids into a college.

 

You're either really poor or really shitty at math.

 

Edited by Beau Vine
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FondrenRoad

FondrenRoad 4378

Posted
Posted (edited)
19 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

One parent apparently paid $6.5m in this scam but it’s thought the parent or school hasn’t been named yet.  People really have money to burn.  

When daddy puts you in charge of his ponzi scheme company, the sucker investors are going to want to see your credentials.

Edited by FondrenRoad
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ToY

ToY 18

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Neither Schaepe nor his son is named in the federal charges. But an unnamed father and son discussed in the court papers bear close similarities to the two. Additionally, one source with knowledge of Schaepe’s situation said the two unnamed people are Schaepe and his son.

The complaint focuses on Michael Center, the former tennis coach at the University of Texas at Austin, who was fired after being charged with taking bribes from Singer.

In the complaint, federal authorities alleged that in 2015 Singer paid Center $100,000 “as a bribe” and, in exchange, Center designated an unnamed applicant as a recruit to the university’s tennis team, even though the teen did not play the sport competitively.

The teen is identified in the complaint as “Applicant 1” and a resident of Los Altos Hills, Calif. Public records show Schaepe has a house in the wealthy Silicon Valley town.

In February 2015, according to the complaint, the student’s father transferred stocks valued at more than $455,000 to a charitable foundation Singer controlled and which he has admitted using to pay bribes to coaches and college administrators at several universities.

Days after the father made the donation, Center emailed Schaepe to notify him that the university would be sending his son a letter announcing its intent to award him a type of scholarship under which the school pays the costs of an athlete's books as part of the recruitment process, the complaint said.

The scholarship was formally awarded to the boy in April and the family accepted it, sending the school a letter announcing the teen’s intent to play tennis when he enrolled, according to the complaint. He was then added to the tennis team roster as a recruited athlete, the complaint said.

In the weeks that followed, the applicant’s father made two more stock transfers to Singer’s foundation that totaled more than $175,000, according to the complaint.

The source close to Schaepe said he adamantly denies any wrongdoing and believed his payments to the foundation were legitimate donations meant to help disadvantaged youth.

Schaepe and his wife, the source said, hired Singer in 2014 to help their son navigate the difficult college admissions process and identify schools where he could find a role similar to the ones he had in high school as the manager of the basketball and football teams.

After identifying the University of Texas at Austin as a good fit for the teen, Singer “introduced” Schaepe to someone in the athletic department who indicated they could help arrange for Schaepe’s son to be the basketball team’s manager, said the source, who did not know the identity of the person.

That contact was fired from the university and Singer put Schaepe in touch with a second person who worked with the school’s tennis team, the source said. After the boy was admitted to the university, he become the basketball team’s manager.

In a photo Singer posted to a blog he ran as part of his college consulting business, Schaepe’s son is pictured with NBA star Kevin Durant, who attended the University of Texas. A note attached to the photo says, “Hey Rick, I wanted to thank you personally for all your help getting me into the University of Texas in Austin, and for helping me secure a managers position with the UT basketball team.”

Davis, Schaepe’s spokeswoman, said the family sent Singer the photo, but denied the son or either of his parents wrote the note.

 

 

https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-schaepe-singer-college-admissions-scandal-20190327-story.html

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tucker

tucker 238

Posted
Posted (edited)
2 minutes ago, JOSEYWALES66 said:

I wonder how much time all the people pleading guilty today will actually get.

It will be interesting to watch.

 

And how many rich people will be caught in this scandal. Sell out your neighbor and we (FBI) will reduce your sentence. 

Edited by tucker
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