FBI unveils large-scale college admissions bribery scandal - high-profile arrests made

I take this stuff personally.

My parents combined income was probably 60-80k/year (estimating.. I don't recall). My dad worked sales, so his income was all over the place. I'm probably overestimating it, to be honest. They had nothing saved for my college. We made too much for federal aid.

I applied to two in-state schools. I was #3 in my class, solid ACT (could have been better), lots of extra curriculars, part time job, etc. One school offered me a small aid package, and mostly told me to take out a lot of loans. The other, I earned two merit based scholarships that gave me a full ride.

If it weren't for those scholarships (really the second one that covered it all), which is limited funds from the University directly, I am not sure I'd have had the opportunity to go to college like I did. I'm not sure if I took the financial risk anyway, that I'd be still buried in debt or not.

It transformed my life. Not as much as I'd like, but it has. I'm at a different income level than my parents combined.

Now, my scholarships weren't need based, even though I think not having a high income helped a bit, but it was a limited University resource that went based on merit and other factors. Imagine if I lied my way though my application / essay to cheat my way into that award, thus removing that possibility for someone else?

That's how I view this.