Remember the "Varsity Blues" scandal of five years ago? If you don’t — and given everything that has happened in the world since, you very well may not — we can recap briefly: A college consultant named Rick Singer was charged (and later convicted) of bribing college admissions officers on behalf of well-connected clients. There were fake photos of water polo competitions, ringers taking the SATs, and a cast of chief executives and Hollywood types. The actress Felicity Huffman went to jail for 11 days. As corruption goes, the stakes were pretty small potatoes. But in retrospect Varsity Blues feels like a turning point. Five years ago, the idea that spots in top colleges were available for sale fed into all the misgivings that ordinary people had about academia and power. It was a little chink in the armor of meritocracy, confirming the suspicion that entry into the ruling class just required greasing the right palm.
I think Varsity Blues would play out differently now. Merely five years ago, the value and prestige of top universities was largely unquestioned. Since then, the standing of universities has been dramatically eroded. Middle-class parents, humiliated at coming hat-in-hand to the financial aid office to find out how much of a discount they can get off colleges' outsize — and largely fictional — sticker prices, wonder what value they are getting. Conservatives dismiss universities as factories for indoctrination, while liberals believe that the whole idea of meritocratic admissions is a fig leaf for upper-class power hoarding. Some consultants still charge parents tens of thousands of dollars to get their kids into college. But increasingly, the whole edifice of American college admissions seems like a relic of a collapsing era. At the time of the scandal, no one seemed to ask, "Is it even worth it?" Now that feels like the very first question that comes to mind.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
The Canadian: taking a sleeper train across CanadaThe Week Recommends Unique and unforgettable way to see this 'vast and varied' landscape
-
Abortion protests: is free speech in retreat?Talking Point The conviction of 64-year-old Livia Tossici-Bolt for breaching abortion clinic 'buffer zone' has made her the unlikely focus of a transatlantic row over free speech
-
Crossword: April 13, 2025The Week's daily crossword
-
America's academic brain drain has begunIN THE SPOTLIGHT As the Trump administration targets universities and teachers, educators are eying greener academic pastures elsewhere — and other nations are starting to take notice
-
Schools' Send crisis: how can it be fixed?Today's Big Question Government urged to reform support for children with special educational needs and disabilities and save councils from bankruptcy
-
The Department of Education is meant to 'advise and assist' US schoolsIn the Spotlight K-12 gets the attention. The money goes to higher ed.
-
Why college students are struggling to read full booksUnder the Radar Is reading full books a thing of the past for students?
-
Anti-Israel protests impact a Jewish-rooted universityThe Explainer The president of Brandeis University resigned as a result of multiple factors, including his handling of recent protests
-
College admissions data reveals early effects of affirmative action's endIn the Spotlight A sneak peek at how the Supreme Court's decision has panned out
-
The history and impact of HBCUsIn depth Schools have long been desegregated, but historically Black colleges and universities are still filling a need in the United States
-
Why are so many colleges closing?Today's Big Question 'Enrollment cliffs' and higher tuition both play a role
