Timing is everything, and the timing of this college scandal is bad. It’s not going to blow over. Whatever the parents spent on college payoffs, they’ll spend 10x that on lawyers … and that might not do the trick. Fifty people have been accused, but there might be more people caught up in this scandal. Buzzfeed explains how it worked. (As I said yesterday, I rarely give parenting advice, but your kids are never going to be prepared for adulthood unless you make them cheat and bribe their own way into college.)

+ “In extreme cases, wealthy parents make hefty donations to schools, or, for example, pay for new campus buildings. The 33 parents now being charged allegedly opted instead for organized conspiracy.” The Atlantic: Why the College-Admissions Scandal Is So Absurd.

+ “The vast majority of athletes at elite colleges are not superstars with a chance of going pro. They are instead the kinds of athletes that actress Lori Loughlin allegedly pretended her daughters were: decent high-school athletes in less-prominent sports like rowing, soccer, and water polo.” Slate: Sports Recruiting Is the Real College Admissions Scam. (Editor’s note: The real college admissions scam is the notion that certain schools are worth risking your reputation and even your freedom to get accepted into. It’s all marketing. The debt and graduation rates, however, are completely real.)

+ Boston Globe: Who was acing tests for rich kids in the admissions scam?

+ And if you thought the college admissions scandal represents parent advocacy run amok, check out this headline: Angry dad brings loaded AK-47 to Florida school because son called crying.