The huge business of elite college admissions gets ugly

LOS ANGELES - Students and parents have long suspected that money and connections help win access to top-tier colleges.

But the federal indictments unsealed Tuesday alleging a massive nationwide scam by wealthy parents - including corporate titans and Hollywood actresses - to get their children into prestigious universities floored even the most jaded observers of higher education.

And it reinforced what many say is a drastic imbalance between the uber-rich and everyone else in the hypercompetitive college admissions game.

"This is disgusting," said Eloy Ortiz Oakley, chancellor of the California Community Colleges and a University of California regent who has long fought for