Buying Your Way Into College; Ethical vs. Legal

In American society anyone, with a sufficient amount of money, is able to literally buy their way into college. However, since there is nothing significantly illegal about this, people are being accepted into colleges not based on their academic grades, ACT or SAT score, rather than , by what the student can offer to the college. They do this by mainly focusing on how much money it will cost to cover all the fees. In addition, of the 150 top colleges, 3 percent of those students come from a low-income family. So, there are very poor students at America’s top colleges, and a large and growing number of rich students. Even more so, there are a sufficient number of high school students who strive at academic excellence, including honor roll students, who will not be accepted in the college of their choice. This is of course not because of their grades, but because a student who has more money will be able to pay much earlier than others. Even if the honor roll student has applied early, the student paying the college for vast amount of money, like a donation, will be accepted, and that acceptance may have been the last, meaning the honor roll student will not be accepted because he did what was morally and academically correct.
Many Ivy League colleges begin at around $45,000. I would not be surprised if many students did not apply to these school primarily because they know they will never be able to pay for the tuition, or for the matter that they know there are others who have a higher chance at being accepted because they have much more money. At Harvard, it’s not too shocking to learn that 90% of the students come from families earning more than the median national income of $55,000. These students have families who earn between $110,000 and $200,000. These wealthier students will never have a problem flying home, or even taking breaks to Hawaii. While, the average student works most of their early life barely making enough money to cover insurances and student loans.
The issue of whether paying your way into college is ethical or not, should not be viewed as whether it is legal, rather, it should be clear as to how immoral this has become. These students who have their wealthy parents pay for college, are constantly making it a struggle for those lower-class students who have been preparing for college their whole life. There is not too much that can be done to stop this corruption in society. One can only hope that he/she has applied early enough to the colleges of their choice, in hope that they will not be rejected primarily because someone wealthier and possibly not as academically knowledgeable has taken their spot in the acceptance line up.