> You are using money to buy an advantage. In a state school, it's obvious that this is wrong since this would be a violation of equal protection. However, I'm

> You are using money to buy an advantage. In a state school, it's obvious that this is wrong since this would be a violation of equal protection. However, I'm not sure I understand what is wrong about buying an advantage at a private school. Does a private school have some statutory responsibility to be "fair?" Does anyone have an inherent right to go to a private school? Sure, we're supposed to be outraged and pretend we are angry about a rich person getting accepted to Harvard because their mom donated $10 million towards a new medical library -- but is that really unfair or unjust? Is the rich kid going to Harvard preventing the poor kid from going to UMass? If you donate millions to a school, shouldn't that earn you the right to go there? You're literally paying for the school to exist. We could make this more fair though by ending tax exemptions for universities (specifically their endowments.) If they are to benefit from public subsidization, then there is at least some moral obligation to serve society a bit more fairly than they do now. It is quite unfair that one can donate $10 million to Harvard, enjoy the tax deduction from the charitable donation and, at the same time, receive a financially valuable benefit of your child's admission into the school. It would be like me donating a tax-deductible $10 million to an airport and my child getting free Gulfstream flights for four years as an untaxed benefit. If we eliminate the tax exemption, then there's no conflict of interest -- now, it's just a business transaction rather than a business transaction masquerading as philanthropy.