What happens after rich kids bribe their way into college? I teach them

While such students have long been present in the form of legacy admits, top sports recruits and the kids of multimillion-dollar donors, the latest scandal represents a new tier of Americans elbowing their way into elite universities: unqualified students from families too poor to fund new buildings, but rich enough to pay six-figure bribes to coaches and admissions advisers. This increase in the proportion of students who can’t do the work that elite universities expect of them has – at least to me and my colleagues – begun to create a palpable strain on the system, threatening the quality of education and research we are expected to deliver. Even for elite universities that enjoy endowments equivalent to the GDPs of small countries, there is a ruthless calculus involved in encouraging students – even the unqualified ones admitted through corrupt means – to regard themselves as customers who are always right, and faculty as service providers who serve up choice grades on demand.

Source: www.theguardian.com