College Cheating Essay Example

In the article, “U.S Charges Dozens of Parents, Coaches in Massive College Admissions Scandal,” Bill Chappell states that many wealthy parents allegedly paid millions of dollars' worth of bribes to help their children cheat their way into the nation’s top universities. Chappell notes wealthy parents faked test scores, faked credentials, faked photographs, and bribed college officials. Chappell states that “33 parents paid enormous sums to try to ensure that their children got into universities such as Stanford and Yale, to entities controlled by a California man named William Rick Singer” (Chappell 1). There was a total of “50 people” who have been charged in the admissions scheme (Chappel 1). Wealthy parents should be found guilty. The punishment to the wealthy parents should be to pay for three underprivileged students’ tuition who are going to elite universities for four to five years. 

One reason why they should pay for three unprivileged students' tuition is to acknowledge responsibility for their crimes. For example, if they can pay Singer between “$200,000 and 6.5 million” to have their children admitted to various colleges and universities (Chappel 1), they should be able to pay for three unprivileged students' tuition for four to five years. Wealthy parents allegedly paid Singer a total of about “$25 million that was then funneled into bribes for coaches and university athletic administrators” (Chappell 1). They should not complain about paying others’ tuition and will realize what they did is wrong. 

Another reason why they should pay for three unprivileged students' tuition is to teach them a lesson to never do it again. According to Chappell, wealthy parents paid Singer and others to facilitate their children's cheating on college entrance exams and admission to elite universities as athletes, regardless of whether they played the sport. This will teach them how hard unprivileged students have to work to achieve their goals. Also, such a punishment would teach them that money will not buy everything in life. To teach them that they need to work for, and earn, what they want.