Betsy DeVos Says College Admissions Scam Is "Not Fair" in Fox News Interview, Says Dept. of Education Is Looking Into Scheme

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos weighed in on the largest college admissions scam ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice, saying Americans deserve "equal opportunity for all students."

During Wednesday's edition of The Daily Briefing With Dana Perino on Fox News, DeVos spent approximately 90 seconds of a five-minute interview answering questions about whether the Department of Education's policies might have played a part in the scandal.

"We are still researching and looking into how the department might interface with this," DeVos said. "Obviously, this is a Department of Justice operation, but we are looking very closely at it, and we'll see if any of the regulations that we are responsible for have been broken."

The scam, dubbed Operation Varsity Blues by the FBI, implicated 33 parents and 22 higher education officials from institutions across the country. Parents allegedly paid more than $25 million combined to have their children's ACT and SAT answers corrected and, in some cases, have the children named as athletic recruits for sports they never played.

The scam was allegedly masterminded by William Rick Singer of California, who helped parents get their children admitted to top colleges and universities through bribes, according to court documents.

Celebrities Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin were among the parents indicted in the case. Both Huffman and Loughlin were arrested by federal authorities and released on bond by Wednesday night.

Perino asked DeVos whether she had considered the plight of many Americans, who spend "their entire adult lives thinking about how they're going to pay for college for their kids," to which DeVos replied that the situation was unfair.

"This is a matter that all Americans want things to be fair. And they're clearly not. This goes to K-12 education as well," DeVos said. "And we don't have the same opportunities for all students in K-12 education, we don't in higher education. And that's one of the things this administration is really advocating for: equal opportunity for all students."

DeVos said she would "absolutely" be paying close attention to the situation as it develops, before using the rest of the interview to discuss the Department of Education's plan to propose teacher vouchers for professional development.

A portion of the proposal includes a tax credit that would become scholarships for students across the country, with states deciding whether or not to participate. The estimated cost for the teacher voucher program would be $200 million, DeVos told Perino.