Students, Parents And Texas Governor Weigh In On College Admissions Scandal
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Amid the fallout from the college admissions scandal, college students, college hopefuls and their parents are upset.
High school student Caleb Shirk, who was in town touring SMU from Nebraska, calls the scandal downright disappointing.
"For me, I worked pretty hard throughout this college process and all the work that I've put into it on the ACT and all of that stuff seems like it's kind of going to waste with all these people finding loopholes in the system," Shirk said.
In one case, UT's head tennis coach Michael Center is accused of accepting around $100,000 to pass a non-athlete student off as tennis recruit. He was dismissed on Wednesday.
Governor Greg Abbott said,"It's important that every university to go back and re-evaluate , to study and to investigate their admissions processes, to make sure that nothing like this is happening or can happen.
"All these kids really pour their heart and soul into working really hard to get admissions to these great schools," said Kimberly Shirk, Caleb's mother. " If you buy yourself into an education, you can't step up to the challenge and you can't do the work."
"As a (college) student that is on scholarship, I studied for the SAT and ACT really hard and I did my college admissions letters, AP," Isabella Montague said. "You're as good as the work that you put into yourself."
The director of Victory Step Education, a tutoring service, said his high schoolers spend hours every week working to get into college the right way.
"They're working on their GPA, they're working on the standardized tests, their homework," Victory Step Education Director Varun Tewari said. "For them, it's a slap in the face because these are honest students, hardworking students."
"I think it will be really rewarding knowing I did it the right way," Caleb said.
ACT officials have now addressed this scandal saying in total, it appears two test proctors participated, including a Houston teacher.
