Letâ cl’ar: this scandal has little to do with the fabulously wealthy, who have no need to resort to intricate schemes. They can simply buy their kids’ way into any school by donating enough money to it. That’s not a conspiracy theory. It’s simply a fact of life, at least in our country.

And I’m not shocked that Merely Wealthy parents (unfortunate folks with a mere 1 to 10 million in assets) would try to buy their kids’ way into swanky colleges after they’ve spent hundreds of thousands on swanky private high schools. Hey, it’s human nature to want to help our children, to try to clear away as many rainclouds as we can… even if we don’t care that we are screwing over other parents’ kids and, perhaps, even harming our own by knocking down walls for them.

But we rationalize our dubious conduct by telling ourselves that any parent would do the same for their children. We routinely advocate for our kids by emailing teachers and principals… arguing with coaches and refs… professors and deans… even bosses. Shoot, I’ve even heard of one guy buying three million dollars worth of poker chips to bail out his son’s failing casino business.

More to come…