Granted, when I was applying for college, it was the 1990s and the whole “getting into college” thing was just a lot different. I dutifully got the applications, filled them out myself, went to people (in person) and asked them to write recommendations, wrote my own college admissions essays and the only thing I asked my parents to do was fill out the financial aid part of the applications (and I didn’t even get financial aid, lol). That’s it. But these days, everything’s different, especially when you’re a rich helicopter parent who is committed to never teaching your kids any kind of everyday life lessons. In today’s That Isn’t Shocking News, Olivia Jade Giannulli didn’t even fill out her college application to USC.
As Lori Loughlin and husband J. Mossimo Giannulli were allegedly taking steps to get daughter Olivia Jade into the University of Southern California as a student-athlete, Olivia herself was confused by the application process, according to court documents in the case. In the 204-page affidavit in support of a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in Boston last Tuesday, authorities detail an alleged email that Loughlin sent to Rick Singer, the man who has pleaded guilty to multiple charges and admitted to devising the college admission cheating scandal in which Loughlin and dozens of others are allegedly implicated.
“On or about December 12, 2017, Laughlin e-mailed [Singer], copying Gianulli and their younger daughter, to request guidance on how to complete the formal USC application in the wake of her daughter’s provisional acceptance as a recruited athlete,” the affidavit states. “Loughlin wrote, ‘[Our younger daughter] has not submitted all her colleges [sic] apps and is confused on how to do so. I want to make sure she gets those in. Can you tell us how to proceed?’” According to the affidavit, someone else allegedly filled out Olivia Jade’s application for her. “[Singer] responded by directing an employee to submit the applications on behalf of the Giannulli’s younger daughter,” the affidavit alleges.
According to federal prosecutors, the application was part of an elaborate admissions cheating plan: Giannulli and Loughlin would allegedly pay exorbitant bribes to designate their daughters as recruits on the crew team — even though they don’t even row. The affidavit alleges that Loughlin and her husband had her daughters pose as coxswains for a local crew team and on rowing machines, adding that federal agents obtained emails from Loughlin and her husband allegedly implicating them in the scam. The couple allegedly paid $500,000.
According to the affidavit, Singer devised a plan to “present their younger daughter, falsely, as a crew coxswain for the L.A. Marina Club team, and requested that the Giannullis’s send an ‘Action Picture,’ asking a few days later for a picture on the ‘erg’ — or rowing machine, which Giannulli did a few days later.”
In November 2017, Olivia Jade was admitted to USC. “This is wonderful news,” Loughlin allegedly wrote. Singer replied, “Please continue to keep hush hush till March.” Loughlin allegedly responded, “Yes, of course.”
My take on this is not “Olivia Jade was too dumb/lazy to fill out a college admission form” but rather Olivia Jade knew that her scheming parents were in the middle of a scam and she didn’t know how to fill out the application while adhering to all of the assorted lies and schemes they had already arranged. Like, Olivia Jade knew she wasn’t a coxswain and she knew that she couldn’t fill out her application with all of those coxswain lies, so Mommy Dearest took care of it for her. My point is that Olivia Jade did not belong at USC and she knew she didn’t belong.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Wouldn’t she have flunked our in the first semester? What was the point of all this they wouldn’t have lasted in those schools long enough to graduate.
I’m really curious about her high school grades. Did she take regular core classes or the individualistic approach where content and outcomes are haxy?? is she on academic probation? Did Jade just take fluffy electives? Who really took her classes and exams at USC? This drip drip is raising lots of questions about how for this cheating goes
Don’t forget, those in athletic programs have a lower reach GPA than “regular” students. While they’d still have to pass, passing is different in different schools (a C- is a pass at some schools, a D at others). You can be sure that “athletes” (and I say that as anyone IN the program) is given access to tutors, and even have had people take tests for them. There was another scandal about this a few years ago at some big football/basketball schools.
I’ve been thinking the same thing. Very curious about her grades
This is my question as well! What an awful thing to do to your child, put them in a situation where they’re totally out of their depth and bound to be reminded of their stupidity every two minutes.
The parents would probably have helped her scam her way through college. I guess that was the plan. Terrible stuff.
The entitled young woman KNEW @scam ( rowing photos??) never had to lift a finger unless of course, cosmetics. I may throw a party when she’s in selfie prison FOR REAL.
There are rich kids who pay people to do their college essays for them. In larger classes you could probably even get away with someone else writing your exams for you too. It’s so gross. I doubt this girl did any of her own work. What was she majoring in by the way?
Even a difficult school has easy classes. I remember my private, very well-rated university in the South (it’s consistently on or near the top of liberal arts universities in the country)- the major Geology was affectionately called “Rocks for Jocks”. Everyone knew it was a super easy department – I’m not saying the SUBJECT is easy but the department in the school graded very easily and the classes were fairly uncomplicated. A lot of the student athletes that uh, got in on athletic skill, gravitated towards that major.
I don’t know about USC but I think most schools have that kind of department. Maybe she was majoring in fashion or something else non-intellectual. Like…none of us believe she was faking her way through a science or math degree. She was taking easy courses.
public or private? I was at a high-ranking state school in the south and we had rocks for jocks as well (got us into some trouble nationally,) wondering if “rocks for jocks” is more common than I realized
Exactly. There are PLENTY of non-grueling college courses out there, even at the most “elite” colleges.
Private! Huh, I just googled it and apparently that’s a really common phrase used in many universities. I thought it was just us!!
Yep rocks for jocks is a thing everywhere. I clearly remember it at large public university in the northeast.
Yup — at my Canadian school we had ‘rocks for jocks,’ ‘moons for goons’ (intro to astronomy), ‘chips for dips’ (introduction to computing) and ‘clapping for credit’ (music appreciation).
Geology is the only subject I’ve ever gotten a C in 😂 Aced anatomy and physiology and physics, though!
I took Astronomy in college because we had to take two sciences, and one had to be a lab science, and one of the two had to be a “hard” science (not as in difficulty, but as in concrete/physical – physics, geology, biology, chemistry.) So I could take biological anthropology for my lab science, but then had to take a geology course or whatever. Since I took psychology for my non-lab, I had to take a “hard science” for my lab. So I took astronomy (which was fun but harder then I expected.)
I really ticked off my roommate that year though when I kept saying “I’m going to physics now! I have a physics exam!” LOLOLOL.
and that is your intro the core requirements at my southern liberal arts college, haha.
I seriously always wondered how ppl w college level education still come across as ignorant, xenophobic. Case in point all the trumps’. Anthropology, history, psychology, astronomy, Greek mythology- all the 101s – for me-were mind blowing/transformative. Now I realize the wealthy/priv either don’t care atall and or fully cheated. Hence a nation of powerful elite w zero soul.
If you are rich enough to scam your way in, you are rich enough to pay for a parade of tutors to do the homework, write papers and prep for tests. A student can fake their way into a B average for the first couple of years at least. After that, I guess the hope was that she’d find a subject she was passionate about and shoulder the workload on her own.
As someone who used to teach at the university level, 1) there is definitely flat-out cheating going on and 2) parents (and students) are not above coming in and arguing about grades. I remember one semester a colleague of mine had a student on the basketball team who needed to maintain at least a C average to keep her athletic scholarship. The girl was doing HORRIBLY in the class he taught. At the end of the semester, the mom called him to argue for a higher grade and then came in to argue the point further in person. He didn’t budge but I could certainly see a more persuasive or diplomatic parent getting further, particularly if the kid managed to pull off a more borderline grade.
I had students who handed in half-completed homework, failed midterms, then failed the final, and suddenly at the last minute show up asking for “extra credit”. They were totally brazen about it. In my case, the parents didn’t have any major influence so I typically said “no, you should have come to see me in office hours earlier in the semester to go over material you were struggling with”, and that was the end of it. But I can totally imagine that if big donation $$$ had been on the line it might have been a different matter.
And of course, some classes are known to be a cakewalk. I had a friend in undergrad who was super protective of his 3.9 average and wouldn’t take any class he wasn’t confident of doing extremely well in. So he picked a relatively “easy” major and then took the easiest classes he could get away with. This is a STUPID attitude to take if your goal is to actually be successful outside of university, but I imagine dumber students employ it also with the goal of simply not failing out.
I’ve been asking that question too. How did these parents expect them to do well when they couldn’t get in without cheating? Were bought papers, exam stand ins, other donations on their horizon?
I’m curious how many people would still go to college if they were wealthy enough to never need a job?
A part of me thinks I’d still go due to intellectual curiosity but maybe I’d just travel and fund philanthropic ventures.
I like your suggestion of traveling and philanthropy. But the thing is that they DON’T need to go to college. As others have mentioned on the other thread, this is all about optics and bragging rights because no offense but Olivia hardly seems like a curious, intellectual mind.
@Weaver – interesting question – I used going to college as an excuse to travel. I moved from the US to Canada for my undergrad, did a year abroad in England, then a year in Italy, before moving back to the US. A year later I moved to the U.K. for a masters and ended up staying for a PhD…it was equal parts because I didn’t know what to do with my life (I graduated high school at 17) and wanting to make the most of the money my grandfather had put aside for my education…and part intellectual curiosity.
I went in the 70s on Social Security Survivor’s benefits (my father died when my sister was 13 and I was 14, and you got those until 22 IF you were a full-time student) because the money was there then and would never be again. That money made college affordable for our family (Mom was a teacher and Dad’s minuscule life insurance wasn’t enough to do more than provide us housing, which we lost when he died because that was one of his job benefits). My sister knew what she wanted to do, so college was a great thing for her at the time. I am one of those people who should have worked for awhile and waited to figure things out, but getting the degree made a huge difference in terms of – when I started having to apply for my first jobs as a 33-year-old single mom – at least having that four-year credential. And it came into play again when, at 48, I was able to start a graduate program. If I had it to do over with all the money in the world, I think I would have worked and then gone, with more confidence and for the joy of learning. Both of those were big factors in my graduate years. (Bonus: Even though I went to grad school to equip myself to make a living wage in the gig economy doing high-end contract work (because I’m realistic enough to understand that no one hires women in their 50s of any color) I actually GOT HIRED for a job I started the day after I turned 57.)
I’d still go, but only because I really enjoy learning. But if I had a child benefiting from my wealth who genuinely didn’t have an interest AND had another gig lined up for themselves (Olivia Jade seemed quite successful with makeup, given her Sephora deal that was now lost), I wouldn’t push it. College is a wonderful experience, but it isn’t for everyone.
An educated populace benefits us all. People like Trump and some of his followers have no real knowledge of history, government, etc., and are a blight on the world.
But I think that’s the key. They’re in a job that SHOULD require more knowledge than what they have. But if someone is in a career that doesn’t actually need that level of education, I don’t think there’s really an issue.
I don’t know if I would go for a full-on degree program, but I would definitely take classes. My degree is in engineering but I love history and would love to take a few history classes for fun. I read a fair bit of history non-fiction on my own but I think classes could help with learning how to better analyze and evaluate the material, which would add to my enjoyment of reading history books.
If you want to fund philanthropic ventures, a college education in management would actually be a must. You might have lots of money but understanding how investments work, being able to judge the feasibility of a project, understanding legal aspects related to philanthropy and so on is extremely important if you don’t want to throw your money away (or get scammed by someone).
Also, it’s just cool to learn, y’a know? Look at the Kardashians/Jenners for instance: yeah they make tons of money, but OMG do their life seems boring and vapid.
I was literally too poor AND too dumb to finish college so Waitressed & saved walkabout money. Traveling gave me exposure and intellectual curiosity. Fast forward 20yrs into marriage, kids & prosperity- I completed a degree age 50. I ate up college classes, I was more settled and more logical. I guess I was a free range child of the 70s. Wouldn’t Trade it for 2 wealthy parents facing prison charges!!!
This is the thing. The girl was pretty open about not wanting to go to school or college, I don’t know why her parents tried so hard to force her. I highly doubt she would have come out any better educated or any better a person (as minx suggests) so why bother? Spend your money setting her up a makeup line or something in line with her interests if you’re so keen to splash cash into her success.
This girl truly is a living doll- so very pretty. It’s her way of speaking & tenor that kept her ordinary, even “blah”. I agree with her parents who pushed for grit, charisma via higher learning. AnywhoZie, a family in prison plus significantly diminished wealth/status outta lend some depth…Careful what you wish for!!
Honestly, at this point, if you were to tell me they just straight up employed someone to attend USC “on Olivia Jade’s behalf”, I would believe it.
Haha I know, right? We are witnessing what happens when wealthy people coddle their kids from birth to young adulthood.
As I’ve said before, they remind me so much of my millionaire boss’s sons who are in their twenties and incapable of doing anything on their own.
And this is why I can’t with the “rich people work so hard to get to where they are” narrative that undergirds Republicanism. Not always.
MANY times these people are born into wealth and opportunity and do the absolute LEAST to get to where they are.
Kitten, I know soooo many people like your millionaire bosses sons. I now understand that if one great grandparent worked hard enough, they could set up there next several generations for a life of lavish vacations, homes and cars with next to no work from anyone.
Right? I was going to say, she must have hired someone to do all her homework !
I hope they receive a custodial sentence. These people are revolting.
Yeah it’s pretty clear at this stage that Olivia knew what was going on and her sister likely did too. These people are disgusting on every level.
Olivia Jade knew she didn’t belong at USC. She also didn’t want to go to college. I don’t understand why her parents didn’t just respect that their daughter was not interested in attending college and let her do her own thing. Btw this isn’t a defense of Olivia or anything but rather looking at how this whole thing happened all because the parents wanted to boost their ego….which is common in general. How many kids are forced to play sports at a younger age or do something not because they want to but because their parents want to fulfill their own wishes? This whole family is trash mind you. Just pointing out the culture of parents wanting to live through their kids.
IMO it was a total ego thing for her parents. She has said that her dad went to USC as well. I’m sure the family was enamored of the USC social circle and networking and Mossimo Giannulli felt it was a feather in his cap to have both his kids at USC.
Come to this website all the time but never comment, I had to for this post. This past weeks episode of John Oliver focused on “the outrage machine” of the internet. Olivia was one of the topics and he was debating whether she deserved what’s happening and then proceeded to show a video before she had even gone to college of her saying “I don’t know how many classes I’ll actually make it to…I don’t really care about school”. She and her entire family deserve everything happening right now in my opinion.
Maybe, but according to the FBI charging documents there are at least 700 students who participated in this scheme, some knowingly and others not. Does she deserve the brunt of it just cause her mom is a B list Hallmark actress, her father had a clothesline at Target, and she was an instagram influencer? Yes they are despicable, but it might be a bit overkill too. Plus the bigger picture is the system that encouraged and allowed this, and I’m sure this isn’t the only company doing this. How do we change this, and I fail to believe it is by dumping it all on these c list celebrities.
I really liked that John Oliver piece. I would argue the reason she is the poster child for our outrage is because she was given so much and not only did nothing worthwhile with her privilege and access, but also capitalized on the lies she was complicit in. I know school is not for everyone, but I went to a private school with so many kids like her and the lack of gratitude for what they were lucky to be born into is staggering. These kids start believing from a early age that they deserve the things they are given and it really sets them up for failure or mediocrity later in life.
Poor kids have to eat up the mistakes or misfortune of their parents all the time and at greater cost to their futures. At least if her parents go to jail, it can be assumed she’ll be cared for well enough. Don’t waste your sympathy on the ultra-wealthy. They’ll always be fine in the long run.
Well the fact that she’s an “influencer” and benefited monetarily of the whole “Olivia Jade Goes to College” shtick is the reason she stands out from the other kids and is ridiculed by people. She made money out of the scam and probably would have became irrelevant if she hadn’t been able to present the “college experience” to her followers. She actively participated in the scam and made lots of money thanks to it, so yeah, she deserves all the fingers pointed at her.
Is a Dumb and Dumber reality show in the works?
The more I read, the more disgusted I am with these parents. This is all about their egos. It must be really hard to know your parents can’t accept you as you are.
Agree that I don’t think this is a matter of “Olivia jade couldn’t do it” (although maybe she couldn’t, who knows at this point…) but I think with all the lies and manipulation, she probably wanted to make sure she kept everything “straight.”
I tend to think it’s a little bit of both. It seems like Lori was just trying to get the girl off her ass and get the applications in (a common lament among parents) and decided to ask Singer to do it. I mean if you’re paying $500k you might as well get a little extra service thrown in, lol.
But I could also see her being unsure of how to complete the app given her fraudulent athlete status. Either way, it’s…not good.
Could also be Olivia was just very disinterested in doing it and that’s her mom’s usual excuse for her lazy, entitled behaviour.
Please I’m sure that form is standard boilerplate. It’s not entirely focused on her position on the “team.” They ask stuff like, parents name, address, contact info, school attended blah blah. Seriously it’s not that hard. She is either too stupid to fill it out or was disinterested. I’m not going with the poor “missy olivia can’t cover up her parents lies in the form” bit.
The kids have it really easy these days (yes, I know that sounds grumpy). They fill out the “Common Application” and it submits their application to multiple universities. Back in my day (you know, when we walked uphill both ways) we had to get an application for each university and fill them out separately. I meet kids that applied to 30 colleges~. I applied to 3.
True, but the higher level schools require multiple unique essays as well. I have a kid going to college in the fall. She applied to 10 schools, wrote the one big common app essay that goes to all of them, and also about 40 other shorter essays, since the different schools had different prompts. And yes, the whole process is definitely ridiculous.
We are upper middle class, which means she gets zero financial aid, and is expected to pay the full $72k per year (tuition/room/board). Even with the college savings we have for her, she would have to borrow a significant amount of $$. It’s incredibly frustrating. I went to college in the 90s and as I remember it, tuition was much more in line with middle class incomes for that time. We are now effectively priced out of these top tier universities. She worked so hard to get in – she’s got the grades, test scores, sports, job, volunteering, leadership blah blah blah. And we simply can’t afford it. The system is so broken. Does she borrow the money to go to the big name school she really wants, or does she settle for the average state university for a fraction of the cost? Is the top tier university name on her resume worth the money? I’m not sure what the right answer is for her.
You know, when upper middle class people start being priced out of paying for college, you know the system is going to shit. I was able to pay for my second Bachelors out of pocket for the most part (I took out about 5K in loans that I’m steadily repaying), but that’s only because I had enough credits that it only took a year, I don’t have a mortgage, and I have no dependent children.
ANNEME, this is a conversation my husband and I were just having! I graduated from college, and he went straight into work from high school. He makes way more money than I did when I was working! I stay home with two small toddlers cutrently. He thinks it won’t be worth our kids going to college in 20 years because the price will be so ridiculous that they will never be able to pay it back, or we will literally die trying to pay it off for them. I told him college is more than a degree, it’s life experience, finding yourself, etc, but I do understand where he’s coming from. He thinks going to a trade school will be a better route. Idk. I also worry if something doesn’t change our two toddlers will have zero shot at attending a good college due to prices and return of investment. Aka graduating with 80K in debt and can’t afford life, or kids. I know many college grads that couldn’t afford to have kids until it was too late. Then it was IVF and failed attempts, more money. It feels weird to already worry about this but I do! I just want the kids to not be sattled with the pressure of starting out young adult life with all the debt. Ugh.
My husband and I might not live the most luxurious life but we are basically debt free. Refuse credit cards, only buy good used cars with cash, save our money like crazy….and even that is hard on one income! I plan on working again as soon as the kids are in grade school so that will help. Until then, my two main jobs are: raise kids that don’t have to recover from their childhood and save us money by living beneath our means.
Not an American, but I’ve been following this story on a few sites and a lot of commenters have talked about doing the first two years of a degree at a community college and then transferring to a top uni for third and fourth – even at the Ivies. Maybe an option?
This is just so bizarre to me. It’s as if the parents are living through her. This is just so clear to me that she was in on the whole thing.
I just don’t understand why she even went to college? She hasenough money, enough connections in the entertainment industry, and clearly she was completely uninterested in college. Why did she ever go?
Maybe we really need to start evaluate how we approach college. I mean I know in CB there’s always comments of ‘she should go to college and get a degree’ when we are talking about nepotism models/reaity tv stars, but honestly when something like this happens, I actually think they should just stay in the entertainment industry and not take away spots from hardworking, intellectually curious prospective students and students who actually at some point need these degrees.
I went to Georgetown and I worked my a** off without any help from my parents (And sadly it was a college implicated in this scandal, so excuse me my saltiness on this)
I assume her parents forced her. It’s hard to stand up to your parents when you’re a teenager.
I actually feel a bit sorry for Olivia Jade. She evidently has some work ethic and hustle (her YouTube and spokesperson career), and she had enough self-awareness to know that college or at any rate an elite college was not right for her.
If her parents had let her go to Arizona State as she wanted (or let her not go to college at all), I bet she would have had a perfectly happy and successful life, and her parents would have been spared however much $$$$ and oh yeah wouldn’t be felons!
Her dad is a MAGA guy, and overbearing, sexist parents can be tough to fight when you are a coddled girl in that world.
The young, LA girls, with or without money… I have sympathy because the messages they get are hard to fight. You are expected to meet a fake, international beautiful standard because of Hollywood. Smart isn’t important for girls in the world to get status and fame. Look at Lori Loughlin! No degree, Hallmark’s formerly “perfect” mom figure. It’s why I left LA.
“My take on this is not “Olivia Jade was too dumb/lazy to fill out a college admission form” but rather Olivia Jade knew that her scheming parents were in the middle of a scam and she didn’t know how to fill out the application while adhering to all of the assorted lies and schemes they had already arranged.”
It could be both? Little of column A, little of column B in this situation I think.
I’m curious about her high school academic record as Chica71 mentioned above. When you sign an NCAA acceptance letter, your acceptance is still provisional until it’s ascertained that you met certain academic requirements. (My daughter played NCAA water polo. If she didn’t have a good academic record as well as a certain minimum for her SATs, she wouldn’t have been admitted.)
These people make me sick.
Not everyone is meant for college, but goddamn, these people are something else. I just can’t imagine having so much money and being so messy about it. Like, y’all dropped $500K on this shit and don’t even know how to pull this off surreptitiously? You couldn’t pay somebody to make sure there was no paper trail?
File under: Entitlement blinders
I wanna know who wrote her admissions essays as well, and all the kids who say they didn’t know, like Jack Buckingham, they must have known at least at that point.
In the affidavit Ringer also explains to the parents, that the kids who helped scam to get a disability status and get extra time, etc. On their tests, that they will also be able to use that status to get special accommodations during their time in University/college. Another reason why I feel like most these kids knew they did not make it into those schools on their own merit, and didn’t care to question it.
Even in the charging documents they all didn’t get charged for the same thing and everything. I saw Marcia Clark on the View yesterday, and she was talking about this. How some didn’t do as much and their punishment will probably be less. She thought none of them will get time though.
I understand that, that’s why i’m only speaking about the kids who likely participated in the cheating/scamming, referencing the methods Singer instructed them all (those who got the special status) to follow. Nowhere did I say all the kids and all the parents did the same thing the exact same way.
I doubt any of the kids will get time, since they weren’t the ones transferring money, filing the taxes, or signing fraudulent documents.
But I really do believe all the kids, no matter what they knew, should be expelled since they were all admitted under false pretences, and fraudulent documents. They should all have to retake their SATs and or ACTs, write their own essays and applications, to the schools they want to go to just like any other kid would have to do, and see if they can get in on their own merits then. That’s the only fair thing to do, otherwise, by keeping the kids who say they didn’t know anything, would still be rewarding the criminal behaviour of their parents.
I know so many adults who openly discuss writing out their children’s applications or editing their essays or just holding their hands for everything. These are college aged adults whose parents are still doing the work! They say if they don’t do it their kids won’t. I work with these people who openly discuss it like they are their kids assistants. There’s a level of helicoptering involved that just is disconcerting. My parents were immigrants. No one was filling out my applications. I figured it all out on my own. The system is so skewed. It’s actually aggravating to me because I want to make sure my kids are independent because I think it really prepared me. My kids are young but it makes you wonder if it’s worth it.
I was speaking with a client about this recently and she’s also an immigrant attorney. She openly discussed wanting to encourage her kids to take a gap year to work because she wants a buffer for them from all this craziness surrounding college. Her kids are only 5 and 6 and she is already seeing the extreme craziness at such a young age.
No way would I have trusted my parents to write mine. Of course, I was a budding little lawyer and had them read over them with a red pen. My college professors who wrote recommendations looked at them, too, to make sure that they sounded accurate. Got into my first choice in DC from hard work.
Stupid people breeding more stupid people. Shrug.
I bet she’ll get a reality show on E! out of this mess…
Yeah. The truth hurts.
At this point we’re just plying on because honestly this is NBD. The wealthy or even moderately well off have people fill out their applications for them. The issue here is the lying.
I was brought up middle class and an only child. I had everything I needed and most of what I wanted but was also expected to do my homework by myself (except for math where I required a tutor and my mother, who was a writer, proofed final versions of my papers). I wasn’t allowed a job in high school or college because “school is your job.” (I had little gigs here and there like babysitting and cater-waitering). I was taught life skills at a young age…as soon as I was comfortable with colors I was expected to sort my own laundry and when I was tall enough to operate the washing machine safely, my own laundry was my responsibility. I went to college not only academically prepared but prepared to function as an adult. Now my family is all gone and I inherited a crap ton of money. It enabled me to go back to college & grad school to study Social Work and I’m able to pursue a career in psychiatric social work and mental health research and supplement my crap pay from my inheritance. There is so much rich people can do with their money, it just pisses me off. It pisses me off when I encounter someone who is breaking their back to give their kid opportunities and rich kids just piss it away.
We are pretty solidly middle class and my son is going to college, our state school next year. He did everything himself. It’s not a time gone by. It’s just parenting. We went with him to visit colleges and we have college funds for him but he filled out all the forms himself except the FASLA of course. And he had no interest in elite schools “too expensive” even though he had a shot to get into them with his high school record (although who knows?). You don’t have to coddle your kids. It’s not like a mandate for modern parenting.
I’ve seen a lot of comments up thread about the cost of a college education these days. Unfortunately I cant find the link but recently I read an article about higher education and how colleges and universities are basically a scam operation. You need a degree to get by in most fields, and post secondary schools are really pushing that narrative, but they keep raising the price. They will participate in scams like the one LL is tied up in and they will never expel wealthy students even if they can’t hack it, because rich kids are still a cash cow.
It used to be that you went for 4 years and got a degree, now it’s not enough in some fields, so many people I know are getting masters. Now a masters is becoming worthless so some people I know are getting PhDs to be competitive. And at the end of the day a lot of companies hiring recent grads are finding they still have to train their new hires basically from scratch. So how much value was there in them going to college, and how much value does a corporation even get from hiring a college grad?
And yet colleges keep raising the price and selling the middle class on the need to get a top notch education to guarantee any level of success so you can get a high paying job and then spend the rest of your life paying off student loans. The system needs to be reset. Education should be a right for all, not reserved for the wealthiest few. Schools should not be driven by corporate greed but noble aspirations like genuine love of knowledge.
I’d say it’s bigger than just universities, to be honest. This is about late-stage capitalism at the height of its destructive power. It benefits the current political regime and elite economic classes immensely to have a population that is too undereducated or too educated but so far in debt that they have neither the time, energy, or resources to be more effectively engaged in the political process. Capitalism will commodify anything and inherently ruin its value because of it.
Veronica, I completely agree with you. This is dystopian to me, it’s terrifying all of it. We have so many people drowning in debt, young people. When will they be able to afford to get married, have kids, will they be able to do those things and have a career? I feel so bad for young people these days.
Carries her own weight, eh?
a game show was rigged to make it look like this girl won; this makes me think she knew exactly what her parents were doing to get her into USC (and probably help her pass/eventually “graduate”); they probably had someone do her work for her in HS & that she’s lazy except for socializing & be on video putting herself out there as an important person whose opinion should matter (her social media influencer routine)
https://www.instyle.com/news/olivia-jade-game-show-rigged
This is such a common thing in regular folks too! I work in the medical field and kids applying to colleges constantly come in expecting me to fill out portions of their vaccination records or medical history. They clearly have no idea they can do it themselves. I kindly hand their paperwork back and tell them all they have to do is transfer the information from their records to the application, then I’ll verify it’s accurate and sign it, the huff and puff and fight me on it. I personally filled out every part of my applications I don’t understand why parents have started doing everything for their kids, literally everything. It’s not doing them any good, they can’t even have phone conversations half the time, plenty of 18 to 30 year olds have their mother call when they need something from our office, especially boys it’s terrible.
I don’t understand why so many parents think their kids are complete morons that they can’t even pick up the phone and make an appointment for themselves. I know parents like this…especially parents of sons. They do EVERYTHING for them. These kids have zero life skills. In my neighborhood I see parents coming home from work and mowing the lawns while their kids have been home all day doing nothing. The parents put out the garbage, shovel the snow, and wash the cars. It’s like do these kids not have to do anything? When I say “kids”, I’m talking about 16 and over. Old enough to take mommy and daddy’s car out on Saturday night but not “responsible” enough to mow the lawn or check the damn mail.
Yep I see that all the time as well, and what’s with the moms of these boys? I find them so overbearing and obnoxious! Teach your son to speak for himself, and clean up after himself, and take care of things around the house like the lawn and cooking etc. I get weird looks when I tell people I make my 11 year old daughter take out the trash and do dishes, this is normal life people! Teach your children, don’t do it for them!
I’m all for educating women and girls, and can’t support it enough. However, it doesn’t mean committing massive fraud and taking away a place from a woman who should have been there for her own actual achievements and hard work and giving it to someone who clearly doesn’t want it.
I went to uni at 18 because I had no idea what else to do with my life, and I honestly didn’t think it was going to be that hard (it so was!). I had fun and I studied hard, I also held down a part time job in a bar. I went back to uni at 24 to do my Masters, having worked for a few years and found something I was actually passionate and interested in and wanted to study more of my own accord. Of the two experiences the Masters was far more fulfilling even though I was working full time while I did it, because I actually wanted to be there on my terms.
I honestly believe that (a) some people aren’t cut out for further education and it shouldn’t be forced on them to feed someone elses’ ego (I’m not including training schemes in that group, as frankly my hairdressers knowledge of chemistry is amazing); (b) people should go to uni/college when they are ready, not when someone tells them they are – maybe take a year or two to work/travel/volunteer and figure out what they want to do and are passionate about; and (c) these people are awful – parents, tutors, pupils and middle men alike – and I hope they get the book thrown at them.
I’m from Nowhere, USA in middle America and this kind of thing happens a lot. Parents with middle class or upper middle class income-not even the rich or super rich-hire private “admissions coaches” and “admissions counselors”. Basically, they start grooming and tailoring the college applications for these kids when they first get to high school and then start to fill out their applications “with” them (for) them their junior year. Not to mention the endless ACT/SAT prep courses available to kids with parents who can afford them.
Well it makes a lot more sense that they were selling her as a cox, not a rower (ex-cox here)
Also I bet Olivia is actually LOVING all this attention… sure 99% of us had never heard of her before, and now the entire world has.
I’d like to know more about Lori’s other daughter Bella. Was she just as disinterested in school as Olivia? Did she want to go to college? Was she a good or better student than her sister?
she’s an actress, mostly in stuff starring her mom
Nepotism hire.
I think you hit this right on the nose.
A lot (not all) of college students are micromanaged to no end by their parents, who micromanaged every aspect of their lives starting from kindergarten on. When these types of students end up in college and live away from home, it becomes clear very early on that they lack basic life skills- including the ability to fill out a form, do a load of laundry, pay a bill on their own, etc. These college-aged students are not treated as “adults” by their parents, so the parents continue to problem-solve for their children, thinking that it will help their children save time or stress in getting tasks completed. I don’t believe that Olivia Jade intentionally avoided completing her college admissions applications because she knew that her parents were up to no good; I believe she really didn’t have a second thought about filling out the application because the act of filling out a form is something that she never had to do. Mom and Dad took care of that every time. There is plenty to read on this type of parenting in relation to how students function and cope in college. Just Google “helicopter parents” or “snow plow parents”.
I’m thinking the Uni Gestapo needed to get the ball rolling on this out-of-control problem and chose a couple of famous faces as examples. Ha. It’ll never stop, because there will always be those parents who do everything for their precious perfections.