<p>Ok, i'm not planning on doing this at all, even if i wanted to, i don't have the financial resources for it...but just out of curiosity: i've heard so many people talk about if you can't get into a college there's always the option for rich people to "pay" their way in. Exactly how do they "pay" their way in and how much are they supposed to pay? is it like an underground thing or does the uni have like a little set of prices saying like "oh 1 million if his grades are really shiiit"</p>
<p>sorry it's just that this question's been bugging me for ages and i don't really konw anyone who paid to get in anywhere and even if they did, i'd doubt they'd tell me...but the main question, is how much? i mean how much is enough to make a university accept just about anyone? wierd. and an unfair advantage for rich kids i'd imagine</p>
<p>Not all colleges work this way - only a select a few do. Then, it becomes a complicated process.</p>
<p>Do you know how bribery works? It's similar to that.</p>
<p>Usually, students are paid in by some underground influences. It has to do with the family's connections and the amount of money it has. There has to be some secretive support going on.</p>
<p>Paying into a top school is similar to paying politicians to get what you want. You don't do it directly, and it has a lot to do with influence. The price may not even be money.</p>
<p>Only a rare few get this kind of privilege, and if they do, they better not mention it anywhere. They're the type that's good at avoiding all the "seeming".</p>
<p>Simply said, if you don't know exactly how this works in its entirety, you're not going to get in via this method.</p>
<p>I have noooo idea. For Ivies I'd expect a donation of like.. more than 10 million at least? Then again I might be way off and people might need to donate ten times that to be accepted through the back door.</p>
<p>my friend's sister got in to yale this way.
she paid all four years of tutition at once.
that's like a downpay. then you have to donate a lot more to get in.
usually, rich and well-known schools take this... such as yale</p>
<p>but paying all 4 years of tuition is even a payment plan! i'm sure theres a lot lot more...but then...thinking about it...how would we ever know? the people who do it, keep it a secret...they're not going to boast about it</p>
<p>
[quote]
an unfair advantage for rich kids i'd imagine
[/quote]
Those rich kids help promote financial aid for those who would otherwise be unable to pay the cost of tuition. Which is more unfair, admitting 10 developmental admits or being need-aware?</p>
<p>bubblegum: you're somewhat referring to what is called a "development" admit. However,your facts need some tweaking: it's not done by paying four years tuition in advance. Many families have the financial resources to do that but would never be considered for "development" admissions.</p>
<p>A development admit is a rare but significant situation. For schools like Yale, etc, the donor is looking at multiple millions to even be considered. "Here's my $5M check -- can you look at my granddaughter..." Yale: well maybe.</p>
<p>And with its super performing endowment, Y can probably leverage the fact that $5M is a smaller drop in their $23B bucket.</p>
<p>Even so, a school like Y probably (my guess here) won't take a dumb as a rock kid just because granpa hit the big stock option.</p>
<p>But if you were the decisionmakers at a smaller, or less wealthy school, you can see why it'd be to the university's interest to look very favorably at it.</p>
<p>It takes SERIOUS money to get in as a development candidate for admission, and you still have to have at least decent credentials. Some state universities are very proud of having big fund-raising campaigns that do NOT advantage the children of donors. And some privately operated colleges don't have developmental admits either.</p>
<p>My theory is that this went on much more in previous years than it does now. With the IRS and all these government investigations of things, it's getting really hard to cover up a money transfer of multiple millions. Chances are that the families doesn't just bring all that money into the admissions office in briefcases. 50 years ago this may have been more feasible than it is now.</p>
<p>Development admissions are not illegal so there is no need to "cover up" the transfer of money. I'm sure the IRS is fully made aware (unless the money was illicitly gained and was already hidden to begin with) because of the great tax advantages a donation would confer to the giver.</p>
<p>As far as hooked admits go, I think developmental admits are not the worst or most pointless of the lot. For each developmental admit, perhaps 20 deserving students are admitted with financial aid, or maybe a new building is erected that improves campus life for hundreds of students. A legacy admit, more so than a developmental admit, seems solely to serve the purpose of allowing the University to keep chummy with old money and bloodlines. In any case, I think a lot of developmentals (not that there are many at all) might already be legacies as well, or have some kind of connection with that university.</p>
<p>My summer school friend (a grade above me) got rejected from Berkeley (1600s SAT, 3.5 GPA, Int'l applicant, 3 clubs). Both hir parents are alumni. One month later (s)he was "accepted."</p>
<p>Yes actually now that you mention it, development admissions could be considered as a form of bribery, but is backed up by evidence that the money was in fact DONATED to the university and in return their child was allowed to attend making the whole process legal, instead of here's 10M under the table, get my daughter in. smart...very smart.</p>