Holistic admissions, which look beyond test scores, are predicated on the public trusting universities to use this discretion to select students who will provide public benefits. As the public increasingly sees graduates going into elite, private-sector jobs, they question if this trust is misplaced and if the system merely advantages the already privileged.

Public trust in higher education is inversely correlated with an institution's perceived remoteness and inaccessibility. Local community colleges, which serve a broad, local population, are the most trusted, while exclusive Ivy League schools are viewed as the least trustworthy by the general public.

Major public universities pay fired coaches tens of millions by using separate, non-profit corporations to manage athletic departments. This legal loophole keeps massive coaching salaries and buyouts at arm's length from taxpayer funds and general university budgets, avoiding public scrutiny.

Elite universities with massive endowments and shrinking acceptance rates are betraying their public service mission. By failing to expand enrollment, they function more like exclusive 'hedge funds offering classes' that manufacture scarcity to protect their brand prestige, rather than educational institutions aiming to maximize societal impact.

Despite their non-profit status, university administrators and faculty act as capitalists focused on increasing compensation while reducing accountability. They leverage artificial scarcity, cheap government-backed credit, and accreditation barriers to raise tuition faster than inflation, effectively exploiting the middle class under a veneer of nobility.

Top universities operate like luxury brands such as LVMH by creating artificial scarcity, rejecting the vast majority of applicants. This strategy boosts their perceived value, allowing them to charge exorbitant tuition at incredibly high margins, effectively transferring wealth from middle-class families to university endowments, faculty, and administrators.

A Yale committee recommends reverting to a historical, focused mission: 'to create, disseminate, and preserve knowledge.' Vague, modern mission statements like 'improving the world' lack constraints and invite universities to stray from their core competencies, eroding public trust.

Top universities with billion-dollar endowments should lose their tax-free status if they fail to grow enrollment. By artificially limiting admissions, they behave like exclusive luxury brands (e.g., "Birkin bags") that cater to the wealthy, rather than fulfilling their mission as engines of social mobility and public service.

Harvard's John Coates reveals that 'private' equity funds primarily invest public money from pensions and endowments. The 'private' label is a brilliant marketing strategy that allows them to avoid the public disclosure and scrutiny that should accompany managing millions of workers' savings.