By Spencer Feingold

“What was I being denied simply because I am not of status?” That's the question students are asking this week, according to Samantha Bowers, a CheddarU correspondent from the University of Missouri.

The outrage and concern spread across college campuses after dozens of individuals were arrested on Tuesday for their involvement in a fraudulent admissions scheme at elite universities.

“The spots available at these universities were given to the offspring of the rich and the famous,” Bowers added.

Federal prosecutors in Boston charged 50 people in a nationwide “conspiracy that facilitated cheating on college entrance exams and the admission of students to elite universities as purported athletic recruits,” the justice department said in a press release.

Parents, exam administrators, and athletic coaches from top universities, such as Yale, Stanford, USC, Wake Forest, and Georgetown, were among the arrested. The parents included two Hollywood stars, Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin.

“This is a direct example of our culture's use of fame, fortune, and influence to gain some sort of competitive advantage,” Bowers said.