Then the university should advertise the cost of admission and make it fair for everyone.

I think it is well known that anyone can donate a building for easy admission. It is no secret, just something available to only the top 0.1%

> It is no secret

It sounds like you agree, then? It should be public.

It is public. Universities almost always include the donation size when they put out press releases about the new building.

It isn't public - none of these universities publicly say, "You can donate 2 million and we'll let your kid in". Which was the amount at Stanford in 2012 (at least based on what someone I met working in admissions told me).

It's left unsaid because it's better for the brand to pretend that this isn't a thing and that just because your parents gave money or because your parents are famous doesn't mean they'll let you in.

But very rarely how many of the donor's family they lowered admission standards for, and by how much.

And usually the building bears the name of the donor!

Often they take the classy move and name it after a relative, often a parent. Harvard's Maxwell-Dworkin building got that name because those are the maiden names of Bill Gates's and Steve Ballmer's moms.

> Then the university should advertise the cost of admission and make it fair for everyone.

if you have to ask for price ... :)

Not sure that would help. New tuiton - $2M and 99% of students get grants of $1.930M

The difference is that today colleges lie about having "need-blind" admissions. Among the Ivies only Brown openly admits that you can buy your way in.

  I were calling the shots at a university
  I'd make that trade every time.

Me too.

But would you be proud enough of the policy to publicise it and your price list?

Because I'd do it, but I'd also be embarrassed I was doing it.

If that's a reasonable proposition within the system, maybe the system is broken?

Also, in the interest of truth-in-advertising, shouldn't the institutions that practice this not have to rename themselves from "university" or "college" to "degree supermarket"?

What? The building is an asset of the university. They can charge more because they have it. It is not a donation to the students.

Oddly sexist example but OK.

if you put a gun to my head and asked me "Rich parents donated 2 million dollars to get their daughter into Harvard, what is her major?" I would say "Arts/Language/Social" every time. If it was a male, i would say "Business/political science" without fail.