COPPELL, Texas — If you think the world of college admissions is somewhat sacred, “you’re wrong,” said David Dillard with a laugh. “You’d like to think it is. And for the most part it is, but there will always be influence in any decision process.”
Dillard, president of KD College Prep in Coppell, built a business out of helping North Texas kids get into college the right way, not the way federal prosecutors say dozens of rich, influential people did it – through cheating and bribes.
Prosecutors say one corrupt college counselor – William Singer — was known as the person for wealthy people to turn to for help getting their children into elite universities like Yale, Stanford and others.
Hollywood actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin were the most recognizable people charged in the scandal that broke on Tuesday.
Huffman is accused of paying someone to help her daughter take the SAT by either changing her answers or taking the test for her.
Loughlin is accused of bribing athletic administrators at the University of Southern California to help her daughters gain admittance by pretending they were recruits for the competitive rowing team, even though they did not row.
There are multiple ties to Texas, as well. Bill McGlashan, who founded TPG Growth in Fort Worth, allegedly paid someone to take the ACT for his son. He’s also accused of trying to bribe a USC athletic director – at one point, according to court documents, he was willing to photoshop a photo of his son’s face on the body of a football player even though his son never played football.
Michael Center, the University of Texas at Austin tennis coach, is accused of taking a $100,000 bribe to help a student get into UT as a tennis recruit when that student had never played tennis.
Dillard said the cheating didn’t surprise him. “We see cheating at every level, in every strata of society that you can think of,” he said. “But you’re crippling your child, not helping them.”
Dillard said has seen parents change in the 27 years he’s been in business.
“When we began in this industry over a quarter of a century ago, we had a few but not many overbearing parents that were trying to hover over kids and help them,” he said. “What we’ve seen that develop into is, not helicopter parents, but lawnmower parents. They’re just mowing down everything in front of their kids to pave the way to make it easy.”
Dillard said KD College Prep helps students with SAT and ACT preparation.
“We help them understand the content and the best environment for them,” he said. “We’re personal trainers in the college testing world.”
KD College Prep has helped more than 70,000 North Texas students, including Alena Rajwani of Colleyville. She is a junior at Yale.
“Yale was my dream because I was fascinated by the idea of being able to study law at places where really prominent politicians and even some of our presidents have been,” she said. “I think it’s really important that you get into college on your own merit because you can get in, but that doesn’t mean you can thrive once you’re there.”