Yesterday, &l;em&g;People&l;/em&g; magazine reported that Olivia Jade has &l;span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://people.com/tv/lori-loughlin-olivia-jade-not-returning-to-usc-scandal/&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&a;ldquo;no plans&a;rdquo;&l;/a&g;&l;/span&g; to return to USC at the end of her spring break. This week, her mother, &l;em&g;Full House&l;/em&g; actress Lori Loughlin was released on a $1 million bail after surrendering to the authorities. Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli (who was also charged and released on bail) were charged with paying $500,000 to get their two daughters into USC by bribing coaches to designate them as athletic recruits for the crew team&a;mdash;despite neither girl rowing competitively.
The Giannullis have a combined estimated net worth of $88 million, &l;span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/richest-designers/mossimo-giannulli-net-worth/&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;$80 million of which comes from Mr. Giannulli&l;/a&g;&l;/span&g;, whose clothing company, Mossimo, was &l;span&g;&l;a href=&q;http://articles.latimes.com/2000/mar/29/news/mn-13836&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;licensed to Target in 2000&l;/a&g;&l;/span&g;. This net worth makes the Giannullis one-percenters, but not at the level of, say, the Kushners (who are estimated to be worth &l;span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.forbes.com/sites/chloesorvino/2016/12/18/jared-josh-kushner-fortune-donald-trump-real-estate/&q;&g;$1.8 billion&l;/a&g;&l;/span&g;), making it more feasible to legally donate the millions of dollars it took to &l;span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherrim/2018/10/24/can-you-buy-your-way-into-harvard/&q;&g;facilitate Jared Kushner&a;rsquo;s admission to Harvard&l;/a&g;&l;/span&g;. It&a;rsquo;s possible that the Giannullis could have managed to donate $5 million or so to USC, but that kind of legal donation isn&a;rsquo;t a &a;lsquo;sure thing&a;rsquo; and still requires the student to be relatively qualified for the school. Still, there are other ways that any pair of 1%ers can spend their money that is ethical&a;mdash;and would instill stronger values in their children in the long-term.
Instead of bribing coaches to lie about your children&a;rsquo;s athletic ability, why not invest in developing that ability? The majority of families who have at least $25k in assets and have a child who plays sports pay between $1,200 and $6,000 per year on athletic training and other sports expenses. The high end, making up &l;span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/09/05/why-families-stretch-their-budgets-high-priced-youth-sports/571945001/&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;8% of these parents, paid more than $24,000 per year per child&l;/a&g;&l;/span&g;. With Lori Loughlin&a;rsquo;s $250,000-per-daughter budget, that&a;rsquo;s ten years of high-end training, coaching, and equipment that could have turned her daughters into all-star athletes. One Olympian, former U.S. speed skater Eric Flaim who is a two-time silver medalist,&l;span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cost-of-being-an-olympic-athlete_n_1760687&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g; estimated that his decade-plus of training and competing cost about $250,000&l;/a&g;&l;/span&g;. This roughly matches &l;span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.wired.com/2016/08/really-hard-make-money-olympian/&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;this article&a;rsquo;s&l;/a&g;&l;/span&g; estimates about the cost of Olympic training for most sports&a;mdash;and moreover, there are Olympians who trained on the streets (maybe not ice skaters) and rose to success with no monetary support from their families.
Olivia Jade didn&a;rsquo;t even have to be Olympic-level talented at a sport to get recruited to USC, either&a;mdash;but there&a;rsquo;s one component missing here, and that&a;rsquo;s time and effort. This college admissions cheating scandal, at its heart, is about parents trying to help their children take the &a;lsquo;easy way out.&a;rsquo; Taking the high road takes time and hard work in addition to money&a;mdash;but supporting your child in their athletic endeavors sets up them up for success in college and beyond. Participating in sports throughout childhood &l;span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/10/10/childrens-sportslife-balance/sports-teach-kids-valuable-lessons&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;helps them build character&l;/a&g;&l;/span&g;, teaches them how to fail and rebound from mistakes, how to be resilient, and how to work in a team. &l;span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/10/21/taking-sports-out-of-school-2/high-school-athletes-gain-lifetime-benefits&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;Studies have shown&l;/a&g;&l;/span&g; that former student-athletes tend to get better jobs with better pay, their managers find that they have greater confidence and leadership abilities, and they are &l;span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/how-sports-may-focus-the-brain/?mtrref=www.google.com&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;better able to focus&l;/a&g;&l;/span&g;.
That being said, if your daughter isn&a;rsquo;t interested in sports, don&a;rsquo;t push her in that direction&a;mdash;either in reality or in a fiction you bribe coaches to create. My philosophy is that students should pursue their true passions and take them to the &a;lsquo;next level&a;rsquo;&a;mdash;and it seems like that&a;rsquo;s exactly what Olivia Jade has been doing. She&a;rsquo;s interested in makeup and creating YouTube videos, and she&a;rsquo;s been successful at it. Her makeup line was even being sold in Sephora&a;mdash;until &l;span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2019/03/226932/olivia-jade-sephora-makeup-palette-backlash&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;they pulled it from stores in the wake of this scandal.&l;/a&g;&l;/span&g; And it&a;rsquo;s not as though the Giannullis are strangers to putting other goals before college&a;mdash;it seems that &l;span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/a26844879/who-is-mossimo-giannulli/&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;Mossimo Giannulli himself dropped out of USC to pursue his fashion designing&l;/a&g;&l;/span&g; dreams. But somewhere along the way, it seems that the Giannullis decided that bragging rights and their own egos were more important than the true aspirations (&l;span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherrim/2019/03/12/the-worst-crime-in-college-admissions-history-exemplifies-the-worst-parenting&q;&g;and mental/emotional wellbeing)&l;/a&g;&l;/span&g; of their children.&l;/p&g;
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