Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman was in Boston last week – but not for a fun vacation or movie shooting. Instead, she was receiving her sentence in federal court for her role in the college admissions scandal that came out last year. Huffman was sentenced to 14 days in prison, 250 hours of community service, and a fine of $30,000. The actress was found guilty of paying $15,000 to get her daughter’s ACT score improved.
Even though many people are satisfied with Huffman’s sentence, some believe she shouldn’t have gotten jail time. Eliminating prison for non-violent offenders has become increasingly favorable amongst the younger crowd. Perhaps instead of two weeks in a posh prison, Felicity should’ve had to pay more. Her combined net worth with husband William Macy is around $45 million. Since $30,000 is practically pocket change to Huffman, paying off a few (or many) kids’ tuition might have a bigger impact on her. If she had to pay for four kids at a price of $60,000 a year, she would pay $960,000 by the end of four years – still not making her bankrupt, but certainly more meaningful than a small fine.
Huffman is the first parent to get sentenced, and she is definitely not the worst of the bunch. She pled guilty and released a statement where she apologized to her daughter, saying that “there are no excuses or justifications for [her] actions. Period.” Additionally, her payment was on the cheaper end of the spectrum. Some parents have been accused of paying up to $6.5 million to get their child into an elite university. Judging by this, it seems like Felicity’s sentence is going to pale in comparison to others’. Just look at Lori Loughlin, the Full House actress who is still pleading not guilty to faking rowing pictures of her daughters and paying $500,000 to the University of Southern California. Her daughter, the once-popular YouTuber Olivia Jade, also vehemently denies any allegations. If Loughlin doesn’t plead guilty, she could easily face a few years in prison and perhaps a larger fine.
Huffman’s sentence could be a warning to the other accused parents to just give in and plead guilty. Considering that rich celebrities often do no jail time for much more serious crimes than bribery, it seems like those in this particular scandal may be made into examples to eliminate similar crimes in the future. However, it’s hard to believe that money will ever become meaningless in admissions. Kids whose parents donate large sums of money to universities will probably get in more easily than other students. SAT tutors will still cost thousands of dollars. The only thing we can do is try our best and hope we don’t end up with crippling debt.