In the wake of a massive college bribery scheme, the schools caught in the middle have been left facing a thorny question: What to do about the students who may have been admitted through fraud?
The University of Southern California announced late Monday it had placed holds on an undisclosed number of students, meaning they can’t register for classes or obtain transcripts until their cases are reviewed.
After a review, USC officials said they would take appropriate action, “up to revoking admission or expulsion.”
Sources told TMZ the investigation has expanded “significantly” and that USC officials are looking to revoke degrees of alums who gained admission by fraud.
According to TMZ, university officials believe they have 8 cases where alums used Rick Singer’s services in a “suspicious manner.”
At Yale, the president declined to comment on specific cases but said it’s a “longstanding policy is to rescind the admission of students who falsified their Yale College applications.” Stanford similarly noted that students could be “disenrolled” or have offers of admission rescinded.
More than 30 parents have been charged in the scheme in which prosecutors say a disgraced college admissions consultant, William “Rick” Singer , took millions of dollars in bribes to assure their children’s entry into top colleges by getting them recruited for sports they didn’t play and by arranging for standardized tests to be rigged.
Federal prosecutors say some students never knew about the bribes and fraudulent entrance exams that got them into some of the nation’s top universities, but investigators say some students did and were even involved in submitting false information about athletic feats in their applications.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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