American Scandal Varsity Blues | The Admissions Game | 5
Oct 6, 2026
Paul Tough, a journalist and author focused on education and inequality, examines the forces behind Varsity Blues. He explores how rankings, enrollment management, testing, legacy admissions and athletics turned college into a marketplace favoring wealth. The conversation also looks at declining enrollment, public funding, UT Austin’s Top Ten Percent model and ways to re-democratize higher education.
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The GI Bill Democratized American College
- The GI Bill transformed college from an elite finishing school into a widely accessible path to the middle class.
- Public investment then expanded higher education across states through the 1980s and 1990s.
Enrollment Management Put Revenue In Admissions
- Enrollment management connected admissions decisions directly to institutional finances, prioritizing students who could pay.
- Selective colleges became harder to enter while low-income students were funneled toward under-resourced public institutions.
Elite Colleges Exclude Their Biggest Beneficiaries
- Raj Chetty’s data shows elite colleges can substantially increase low-income students’ future earnings.
- Yet those colleges enroll mostly students from the top 20 percent of family incomes, excluding many who could benefit most.
