In March 2019, outrage broke out following the Operation Varsity Blues college admissions scandal. Actors and childhood heroes left people across the country shocked and crushed after it was discovered that they had cheated their way into elite colleges. Thirty-three wealthy parents and their children from around the world conspired with college counseling consultant William “Rick” Singer to bribe test proctors and college coaches to falsify test scores.

But are we surprised that the wealthy exploited the system for their personal gain? After all, the college admissions process was built to benefit the wealthy and perpetuate poverty by denying low-income families the financial aid necessary to obtain a secondary education.

The Grant community preserves an elitist culture surrounding standardized test scores. Tutoring and college counseling programs have become incredibly popular and some consider them essential for academic success. Programs, such as North Avenue Education, help students achieve an average increase of 160 points on the SAT.

Sophomore Abbey Reich values the personalized attention that North Avenue offers. “It’s not a super formal kind of meeting or anything like that,” says Reich. “It helps me to … just feel comfortable.”

But for most, these programs are not economically feasible. North Avenue’s rates begin at $95 an hour for private tutoring, and their six-day college application “boot camp” costs over $1,000.

North Avenue hopes to add an application process to its scholarship program to make tutoring more accessible to all interested students. But currently, students can only receive their no-cost services through referrals from their Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) — a college prep program ­—teachers or college counselors.

College counseling, which many families use in combination with tutoring programs, compounds expenses.

Eric Delahoy, a popular private higher education consultant within the Grant community, charges $4,500 for a comprehensive plan, which begins during the student’s sophomore year of high school.

Students who may benefit from college counseling — mostly low-income or first-generation students who may not be knowledgeable about the college application process — are often unable to afford traditional consulting.

Although many private counselors aren’t accessible to lower-income students, there are some programs available.

Rama Thioub, a junior at Grant, participates in Minds Matter — an intensive college counseling and tutoring program specifically for low-income families and first-generation students by providing volunteer tutors and counselors.

Students apply during their freshman year of high school and attend four-and-a-half hours of tutoring and mentoring every Saturday morning throughout the rest of high school. The sessions provide strategies for both the SAT and ACT, and mentors offer support and advice throughout the college application process. Minds Matter also presents students with the opportunity to enroll in summer programs, and visit elite college campuses.

Thioub found college counseling helpful because her mother was unable to provide the complete support she required. “I don’t know if basically, she could support me through everything, even just emotionally, and (she) wanted me to have another support (to help) me get there,” she says.

In an inequitable system, students from economically disadvantaged families struggle to compete with the fast-moving and intensive studying sessions their peers attend in the summer. Thankfully, Minds Matter provides low-income students with those opportunities.  

But Minds Matter and programs like it cannot be expected to repair a broken system.

Because it is free of cost, the application process for Minds Matter can be more selective than tutoring or counseling programs that require families to pay at full price. Applicants must submit an essay concerning their goals and complete an interview with a Minds Matter representative. Fifty percent of applicants are accepted.

This selectivity mirrors the college admissions process. “Most colleges are need-aware, so if you’re a family who can pay the full amount, or your family has no problem paying the $70,000 a year, you are more likely to get into a school because colleges can’t really work to … give financial aid to everyone,” says Kathleen Reid, a Minds Matter volunteer and college counselor at Riverdale High School.

Low income and first-generation students are at a systematic disadvantage during the college application process. Organizations like Minds Matter are essential to break the cycle, but college counseling and tutoring needs to be more accessible. Families should not be expected to pay thousands of dollars for their students to be admitted to college. Since the college admissions process caters to the wealthy, the system allows itself to be exploited.