NEW ORLEANS — As the recent college admissions scandal makes headlines across the United States, it has unearthed a discussion about the college admissions process.
While the parents who paid to get their kids into schools acted illegally, there are services that parents can pay to give their students an edge in the admissions process that are completely legal.
Kathie Carnahan is a certified educational planner, or also known as a college consultant. She usually works with juniors or seniors in high school who are planning to go to college.
"Families come to me and other education consultants to seek advice as to how to find the best fit for their student," Carnahan said.
When people come in, Carnahan very proudly whips out a large map of all the colleges in the country. She helps guide students to a college that will be the right fit for them by discussing school size and affordability.
Then, she oversees the application process to make sure that students have the best chance of being admitted. Carnahan says that students aren't often able to get the help they need at their own schools.
"The high school counselors can only do so much in a given day," Carnahan says.
But services similar to what Carnahan offers can be pretty expensive. The national average for a college consultant is close to $4,000 per student. But she says that she and her colleagues work with students who can't afford the services. She says a quarter of her work is for community-based organizations.
But some advocates worry that growing dependency on college consultants disadvantages students in low-income families. Mike Woodward, the Regional Executive Director of College Track New Orleans says the services give a leg up to privileged students who are already advantaged.
"I think it is certainly a form of privilege," Woodward says. "When I think about leveling the playing field, to me what comes forward is equity, providing opportunities to those that are least likely to obtain them."
College Track New Orleans was founded in 2008 to help low-income and first-generation college students to graduate from universities. Woodward said that most of his students would not even know how to seek out the college consulting help.
"The idea of meritocracy has been pitched in the US and many other countries, but this reinforces the idea that it's not a matter of what you put in," Woodward said. "Quite frankly, who you know and the resources that you have often dictate your life outcomes."
Carnahan acknowledges that some kids have more resources than others. By offering her services to those who can't afford it, she feels that she is doing her part to try to level the playing field.
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WWL-TV reporter Sheba Turk can be reached at sturk@wwltv.com; Follow her on Twitter at @ShebaTurk