USC students linked to admissions scandal can't enroll in classes, get transcripts, university says

[Pachamama]

83. Depends on the situation

There were different forms of cheating done. Some were flat out cheating on exam/test scores and the children knew and knowingly participated in the cheating. Administrators of test taking who were compromised arranged and coordinated with the parent and student to show up on the test day at a compromised test center and would "check in" and have their identity verified but then after the fact would actually leave and the administrator changed the test results OR another person took the test for the student. Even down to how high they wanted the test scores to be were coordinated (in some examples high enough but not too high as not to draw attention).
In these cases, the students knew and knew they were cheating.

Another form of cheating was falsification of athletic skills in order to get in to a school in a "Student Athlete Recruit Slot". This was accomplished in multiple ways - some with the students knowledge - in some cases it wasn't with their knowledge. In the case of Lori Loughlin the actress, neither daughter had ever even sat in a crew boat, yet they posed in pictures on rowing machines "training" and claiming to coxswain's. These girls knew what their mother did and they knowingly participated. They just dropped out of USC because they know they were going to be expelled and they wanted to avoid that. In other cases, the student applied legitimately to the University, submitted their legitimate high school transcripts and test scores and submitted the application with the essays etc. But what these students didn't know was that their parent(s) had contracted with Singer to submit an Athlete Recruitment form to a person at the University Athletic Dept who was being bribed and then there would be falsification of their qualifications. These students didn't know that had been done or submitted on their behalf. Those students didn't knowingly participate in a fraud and when they signed their applications were not committing fraud. Their parents did and they didn't know.

Each case is different and the Universities should look and investigate each case on a case by case basis to determine if the student knowingly committed fraud. The ones who did know should be expelled, but I don't believe the kids who didn't know should be punished because of what their parents did without their knowledge.