‘The View’ Hosts Rip College Admissions Cheats for ‘Gaming the System’

The View College Cheating Scandal Debate (Credit: ABC)

The View co-hosts are shocked, sickened and angry about the nationwide college admissions scandal involving wealthy parents, including Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin.

The Hollywood actresses were among 50 high-profile individuals charged in a scheme that allowed parents to pay a company called Edge College & Career Network, also known as “The Key,” to guarantee their kids would be admitted to elite universities, including Yale, Stanford, USC, Wake Forest and Georgetown.

While Joy Behar said she wasn’t shocked by the scandal, she was surprised the parents “got caught.” Abby Huntsman asked if there are even more cheaters out there.

“When this broke yesterday, I was like ‘shocking.’ This is what I think we all knew was going on, I’m just thrilled that a spotlight is being put on it, because if this is one operation, it does make you wonder how many others are out there,” Huntsman said.

Read More: Felicity Huffman Among Celebrities Charged in College Admissions Bribery Case

Credit: Deposit Photos
Huffman is shown with Macy and their daughters. (Credit: Deposit Photos)

Ana Navarro and Sunny Hostin were more angry than anything else.

“There are so many black and brown kids and poor white kids at these schools who are told and made to feel like they don’t belong there,” Navarro said.

“There are people who go against affirmative action, they have filed lawsuits, have said that ‘rich white people are getting discriminated [against], and to know they are gaming the system this way and the ones that don’t belong there and don’t deserve to be there … just angered me to no end,” Navarro continued.

Full House actress Loughlin and her fashion designer husband – Mossimo Giannulli whose brand was once a staple at Target — allegedly paid $500,000 to have their daughters pose as recruits for USC’s crew team to guarantee their admission, even though they never participated in the sport. The scheme involved superimposing faces onto pictures of real student athletes.

The actress appeared in court Wednesday and posted $1 million bail.

Credit: Deposit Photos
Loughlin is pictured with her daughters, Isabella and Olivia. (Credit: Deposit Photos)

The feds said in their indictment Desperate Housewives star Huffman and her husband, actor William H. Macy, “made a purported charitable contribution” of $15,000 for a scheme to ensure their daughter scored high on a college entrance exam. Huffman was arrested and posted $250,000 bail Tuesday. Macy was not charged.

As the parent of a student athlete, Hostin said she was “sickened” by the entire situation. While The View co-host said legacy admissions and multi-million dollar donations have long been part of the system (with big donations benefiting other students in the long run), this isn’t the same.

“This is fraud. This is someone taking the exam for your kid. This is very, very different and that sickened me,” she said.

“I’ve been the mom that has seen him sitting in the Epsom salt bath all night. I’ve been the mom that wakes him up at 4:00 in the morning because he’s going to swim practice at 5:30 when his friends are still in bed,” she added. “I’ve been the mom where he’s gotta leave our summer vacation because he’s got preseason football. And these parents are superimposing their kids’ faces on my kid’s face, that’s ridiculous!”

Federal officials have described the case as the largest college cheating scam ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice.

William Singer, the ringleader of the scam, was said to have accepted bribes totaling $25 million. The Southern California resident pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court.

Watch The View debate below.