Cheating scandal sheds light on high-stress college admissions process

Micah Kim has long dreamed of winning a football scholarship to a Pac-12 college.

“That would mean the world to me,” said the Moanalua High School junior. “I used to watch football, even when I was little, and dream about walking into the stadium and hearing that crowd just cheering, cheering, cheering — even if it’s not for me. I may walk in there as a freshman and not even play, but they’re cheering for my team, for all my brothers.

“It would be a breathtaking moment that you won’t ever forget for the rest of your life.”

The 17-year-old Kim and his parents are worried his hope of earning a coveted athletic scholarship may end up just a pipe dream if the college admissions cheating scandal known as Operation Varsity Blues results in stricter NCAA recruiting rules and fewer scholarships.

The U.S. Justice Department investigation brought indictments against dozens of wealthy families who are accused of paying consultant Rick Singer to rig test scores, bribe university athletic coaches or engage in other fraudulent activities designed to get their children into prestigious schools.

The competitive pressures to claim spots at top campuses and score scholarships are no less felt in Hawaii, where more than 6,200 students who graduated from public high schools last year enrolled in college, according to the state Department of Education. Thousands more did so from private schools.

Independent college admissions counseling has grown into a multimillion-dollar industry as parents seek help dealing with the increasingly complicated admissions and financial aid process and giving their kids an edge.

Katherine Huang of Honolulu hired Seleena Harkness-Lee of Elite Prep Hawaii to help the son of family friends in China with test preparation, college selection and keeping on track during the entire admissions process. The 19-year-old, who wants to study engineering, has been living with Huang’s family and is a senior at Hawaiian Mission Academy.

“Even for American parents, navigating through the admissions process is difficult,” Huang said. “I sought out Seleena to help him because I didn’t know where to start.”

Huang has two children of her own who graduated from college, a third currently enrolled at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, and a daughter who is a sophomore at Punahou School who also works with Harkness-Lee.

When her two oldest kids were applying for college, the family handled everything on their own, she said. Since then, the process has become more demanding.

“By the time the third one came around, there was pressure to do more and more and more, and the colleges were expecting more and more,” Huang said.

College admissions counseling is “a big relief for parents,” she added.

Access to counselors

Independent college admissions counseling is relatively new in Hawaii, according to Todd Fleming, director of college counseling at ‘Iolani School and president of the Hawaii Association for College Admission Counseling. The nonprofit HACAC comprises 300 professionals working in the field, most employed by secondary schools.

“There are a few (independents) in Hawaii; it’s not a huge number,” Fleming said. “We always encourage families to get to know their school college or post-­secondary counselors. They’ll always be the first person the family goes to who can provide context about the school, send transcripts and advocate on behalf of students.”

If families decide to work with an independent counselor, he recommends finding one who belongs to the national or local association or other professional groups that vet members and promote a code of ethics.

There are 246 counselor positions throughout 41 public high schools in Hawaii, and most campuses have college and career centers with a dedicated counselor who provides guidance on the college admissions process, according to the Department of Education. (By comparison, there are four college counselors at ‘Iolani.)

With 49,000 students enrolled in noncharter public high schools — for a ratio of one counselor per 199 students — some parents prefer more individualized attention. That’s one reason Victor Tan hired Harkness-Lee to work with his daughter, Victoria, a Kalani High School senior.

“The counselors are just too busy because they have too many students,” Tan said. And, “I don’t know the American college system. When it’s time for my daughter to apply, I really need help. We don’t know what kind of school is good for my daughter. She’s good at some things, not too good at some things. Every kid is different.”

Tan and his wife were Chinese circus acrobats who defected in 1992 while performing in the United States. They moved to Hawaii two years later but returned to China in 2003 when Victoria was not quite 3. The family came back to Hawaii in 2013 after she finished the sixth grade.

“I hope my daughter can go to the best-best college but it’s difficult because she is still improving her English,” Tan said. “Finally we all agree we don’t have to apply to the best-best now. We don’t want to give her too much pressure.”

Victoria is interested in international studies and was accepted to several mainland colleges. She plans to enroll at American University in Washington, D.C., which offered her a full scholarship.

Scandal not the norm

Parents and counselors interviewed by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser said they were shocked at the scope of Operation Varsity Blues but were not surprised well-to-do parents would stoop to cheating and bribery to gain entry to exclusive schools.

“That’s a totally different class of people,” said Gayle Oura, whose daughter, Karlyn, a senior at ‘Iolani, meets with Harkness-Lee on a weekly basis. “With that kind of money people have a wider range of opportunities, even if you have a famous name without the money.

“I feel more for the kids, that the parents don’t think their kids could have done it on their own,” Oura said. “If your parents don’t believe in you, whose going to believe in you?”

Fleming called the cheating scheme “the extreme end of parental involvement” in the college admissions process. Some parents are too focused on the process of getting into college to the detriment of their kids, he said.

“Undoubtedly we’ve seen an increase in the pressure students feel,” Fleming said. “It’s an unfortunate thing that they’re treating college acceptance as the end product. It’s just the first part of the education experience.

“If they’re solely focusing on getting in, they lose sight of what happens when the student gets into school. It’s a journey you want your kids looking forward to — what they are going to be learning in school and their social and professional growth.”

Parents often unnecessarily fret about getting their children into a college of choice, according to Fleming. In reality, a “vast majority” of students sending out applications will get accepted somewhere. “It’s very doable,” he said.

Harkness-Lee said she was “horrified” by the cheating scandal.

“I felt there was a lot of misinformation about what we do,” she said. “This is an affront to that and puts the whole system in a bad light. I really do believe in finding the place that fits you best instead of forcing something on a student or cheating your way into college.”

Fleming emphasized that Operation Varsity Blues did not involve college admissions officers, who will be left to deal with its aftermath. “The admission officers at the colleges that were involved were too trusting of others on campus, and I think that means more work for them in the years to come,” he said.

Recruiting savvy

Because the cheating scheme involved abuses of the athletic recruiting system, many expect the NCAA will tighten its standards for student-athletes, who are considered for recruitment and admission based on different standards that involve complex grade-point average and test score formulas.

Jill Kim, mother of Moana­lua football player Micah Kim, said she was crestfallen at news of Operation Varsity Blues.

“I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, what is this going to do for the athletes who are trying really hard and putting in all this work? And is it going to hurt us and what more are we going to have to do now?’”

Kim’s son is enrolled in a new program at Accelerations Learning Center in Honolulu designed for student-athletes. The $900 SAT Prep For Athletes course also guides parents and athletes through the recruiting process.

Matt Wright, managing director at Accelerations Learning Center, said it often “creeps up” on parents.

“Their kids are playing sports because they love it and all of a sudden it turns into a business,” said Wright, a former head coach of Saint Louis High School’s heralded football program.

“There are different pressures: competing for fewer scholarship slots, getting out there to get exposure, the camps and combines. With the amount of money at stake — a full ride athletic scholarship can be worth $100,000 or more — the pressure is put on them at an early age.”

Wright is an ‘Iolani School alumnus who played football at the University of Hawaii under coach June Jones.

“When I was in high school, you did a VHS tape and sent it out to coaches, and hopefully they saw it. Now it’s a million-dollar industry, with camps and combines and recruiting agencies that act as middle men,” he said.

Wright thinks Operation Varsity Blues will force officials to clean up scholarship and recruiting abuses.

“Trust in the college application process has been shaken,” he said. “There’s a good conversation that needs to be had right now within the athletic community and the academic community. This scandal has brought everything to the surface, and what is the process and why was it easier to get them in through athletics rather than the academic process.

“Ultimately, I think it will create more opportunities for students and student athletes.”

Paying isn’t an option

The cheating scandal also has underscored the inequities facing families who can’t afford to hire consultants.

“The reality is that I don’t think it’s equal. It never was equal and never will be,” Harkness-Lee said. “Those who can’t afford it, even if parents utilize school resources and do their research, it’s hard.

“My parents were lower income and could not afford tutoring, so I’ve been on that side. It’s really, really hard.”

In the case of student-­athletes, Wright said the importance of hiring private sports coaches and attending expensive camps and recruiting events may be “overblown, but the pressure to do it is why parents do it.”

“It can be done (without private coaching and counseling), but unfortunately in the world we live in, it takes a lot of work, especially with all the social media, to get in front of coaches.”

Fleming said regardless of their financial circumstances, parents should take advantage of school counseling services and attend free workshops offered by HACAC and similar groups.

College and career counselor Eleyne Fia works at Campbell High School in Ewa Beach, which has the largest high school enrollment in the state at 3,095 students. As part of her job, she explains the admissions and financial aid process to families, guides students in exploring their interests and suitable colleges, and schedules college planning nights, application and FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) workshops and visits by college representatives.

As many as 70 to 80 recruiters drop by Campbell each year to talk to students and parents, Fia said, and some even waive fees for onsite applications.

“I see more and more families getting actively involved in the college admissions process, taking an interest in where their children are going to go to college instead of leaving it up to the child themselves,” she said. “And financial fit has become very important.”

The 19-year counseling veteran and past president of HACAC encourages parents to check in with their child’s school college counselor because the amount of information available on the internet and elsewhere about various campuses, student loans and related matters can be overwhelming and sometimes misleading.

“There’s so much out there, you’ll want to be able to tell where to get quality information to make the best informed decisions,” she said. “Every high school should have a college counselor or someone in charge who families can contact for further info and to find out about a variety of activities or assistance, no matter how simple the question is — even if it’s just the SAT dates.

“You don’t have to go it alone,” Fia said. “There is a wealth of resources out there and a lot of them are free. And don’t be afraid to make contact with colleges.”

The DOE added that counselors and teachers are available to help students with college and scholarship essays and provide guidance on using free online tools such as Khan Academy and the University of Hawaii’s Online Learning Academy for college entrance exam preparation.