@juillet (re post #9):
With respect for your many excellent posts, I disagree. I thought posts #6 and #7 made it essentially clear that my shorthand use of “law enforcement” also included other “authorities,” ranging from QuestBridge to the high school’s officials (see post #6 for a more comprehensive list).
That minor matter aside, fraud is: “deliberate deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain.” The fact that a prosecution doesn’t – and probably shouldn’t – occur and/or that a conviction isn’t secured does NOT make the submission of knowingly false information to win QuestBridge-founded admission advantages and financial assistance any less fraudulent.
The “authorities” (law enforcement included) are not omnipresent (the costs alone would be prohibitive); this means that “we the people” have a responsibility to assist in the maintenance of a lawful society. Failure to fulfill this duty inadvertently furthers criminal activity, whereas cooperation helps to deter it.
Let’s presume for a moment that the OP’s original assertions have merit (obviously, we don’t know that to be true) AND that they are clear violations of QuestBridge’s policies. In that scenario, an undeserving individual receives QuestBridge’s substantial advantages AND – more important – a deserving student does not (it’s a “zero sum game,” there is a finite amount of QuestBridge FA available in any academic year). Is that fair, moral, or legal? I don’t believe it is, and I additionally believe that “we the people” have an ethical obligation to attempt to stop such wrongdoing, especially because it clearly harms highly-deserving kids who truly require assistance.