Sonja Morgan Shares the Advice She's Giving to Her Daughter, 18, amid College Admissions Scandal
Sonja Morgan is using the college admissions scandal as a teachable moment for her 18-year-old daughter, Quincy Morgan.
The Real Housewives of New York City star’s only child is currently in the process of applying for college, and Morgan is passing on a few pieces of valuable wisdom in the the wake of the scandal.
“It’s really a disservice to the child, because you know, having someone else take an exam for them, or to say that they’re very good at a sport, puts them in a tough situation when they get misplaced at the wrong school. … It’s gonna be a challenge for them if they’re placed at the wrong school,” Morgan, 55, tells PEOPLE.
Morgan believes that as students apply for higher education, they should be prioritizing their happiness above how revered a college or university’s name may be.
“They have to test for themselves, to be placed where they’re gonna be happy. Most important is that they’re happy at school. And that they can thrive, being happy who they are — not where they are and the name of the school. So, that’s why testing exists, because they get into the school they belong in,” says Morgan, who is partnering with CoolSculpting.
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And that’s the same advice she’s telling Quincy, who is currently interviewing and applying for college — without her mother’s monetary interference.
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“That’s what I tell my daughter right now. Because, she is applying, and you know she took her test, and she does her interviews,” Morgan says. “She does all her own essays, she doesn’t even let me read them. And, she’s gonna get into the college where she belongs, and she’s gonna be happy.”
And although some parents charged in the scandal may argue that their involvement was for their child’s well-being, Morgan ultimately believes “it’s not good for the child.”
Earlier this month, actress Lori Loughlin, her husband Mossimo Giannulli, and actress Felicity Huffman were among a list of 50 people who have been indicted as part of an alleged nationwide scheme, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts.
“Dozens of individuals involved in a nationwide conspiracy that facilitated cheating on college entrance exams and the admission of students to elite universities as purported athletic recruits were arrested by federal agents in multiple states and charged in documents unsealed on March 12, 2019, in federal court in Boston,” the release said.
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The indictment alleges Loughlin, 54, and Giannulli, 55, “agreed to pay bribes totaling $500,000 in exchange for having their two daughters designated as recruits to the USC crew team — despite the fact that they did not participate in crew — thereby facilitating their admission to USC.” (Neither Olivia Jade or Isabella Giannulli are listed on the USC women’s rowing roster.)
Both Loughlin and Giannulli were arrested last week on a felony charge of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud. They were released on $1 million bonds and have not entered pleas. Loughlin’s attorney has not returned PEOPLE’s requests for comment.
A source told PEOPLE last week that many of the couple’s friends have been distancing themselves from them.
“Lori and Mossimo are finding out quickly who their real friends are,” the insider said. “It’s not like they are the victims of a crime. They are the crime.”
“Many of their friends don’t want to be associated with them right now,” the source added. “Their friends are shocked at the allegations.”
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In a resurfaced interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network from 2014, Loughlin said she would never do anything that her “children have to pay the price for.”
“For me personally, I was always very thoughtful about projects that I chose for myself,” Loughlin began. “I would say to myself, ‘Can my father watch this?’ If my father couldn’t watch it, I didn’t do it.”
“And then when I had children… I always thought, I don’t want to do anything that one day might rear its ugly head and my children have to pay the price for that,” she said.
