SAT Cheating Examined in Wake of Long Island Scandal

Nassau County has first world problems.

It recently came to light that in some tony school districts, a college kid who was pretty good at taking the SAT was sitting for the exam in lieu of probably dumber, definitely richer kids. Six high school students are charged with paying 19-year-old Great Neck teen Samuel Eshaghoff to take the test in their stead at a cost of $1,500 to $2,500 per fradulent SAT taken.

According to police and CNN (yes, SAT cheating is apparently now a CNN-worthy scandal), Eshaghoff ventured outside the Great Neck area in Nassau County, “where proctors would not be familiar with the students’ identity, and present fake, unofficial identification.” Matin Emouna, an attorney for Eshaghoff, says criminal prosecution is a pretty big leap in a case of fraudulent test taking:

“At what point are you going to draw the line? …No one has had a case like this in the U.S., and I think attorneys are going to have a field day with it.”

Nassau County District Attorney defends the decision to use county resources to go after Eshaghoff and the six students charged in the scandal, saying that while the crime may seem low-impact, the SAT cheating robs wealthy and privileged students of their dreams, something no amount of money can buy on their father’s credit cards at the Roosevelt Field Mall:

“Colleges look for the best and brightest students, yet these six defendants tried to cheat the system and may have kept honest and qualified students from getting into their dream school.”

Rice vowed vigilance on the matter of high school testing and warned possible offenders that there is a zero tolerance policy for such shenanigans in the county. She says:

“These arrests should serve as a warning to those taking the SAT this Saturday that if you cheat, you can face serious criminal consequences.”

[CNN, Image]