<p>“I really don’t understand the mentality that…rights are being abused and … privacy violated…”</p>
<p>In the first place, there is no evidence that colleges do in fact share lists. Not even much current anecdotal evidence on cc.</p>
<p>Secondly, if if such sharing does occur, it is much different than the price fixing that the Ivies used to engage in. Price fixing clearly violates the Sherman Antitrust act.</p>
<p>As vonlost notes, it’s an agreement: for an admissions boost and the opportunity to get a decision by mid-December, a student agrees to attend if the financial aid is acceptable.</p>
<p>So, the applicant gains two things by participating: 1) admissions boost; 2) decision by Christmas. For those two items, the applicant forfeits the opportunity – not “right” – to compare financial aid offers.</p>
<p>If a student and his/her family views this situation as win-win for them, they can play. If they view it as ‘all-the-power-being-held-by-the-colleges’ and an “abuse of rights”, they can choose not to play (which in itself is win-win for them).</p>
<p>But to say that ‘all-the-power-residing-in-the-colleges’ means that the acceptee can then break his/her word (their personal ‘bond’) for any reason, is just a justification for unethical behavior. (Two wrongs don’t make it right.)</p>