Amna Nawaz:

It's now been a week since federal prosecutors pulled back the curtain on a college admissions cheating and bribery scandal. The scheme involved wealthy parents, a pair of actresses, including Lori Loughlin, business leaders, and a college placement firm at the center of it all led by William Singer.

It bought students' admission into high-profile schools like Yale, UCLA, Georgetown, and the University of Southern California. USC said today it's blocking students associated with the scandal from registering for classes for now.

The scandal has sparked a wider conversation, and John Yang will pick up on that in a moment.

But, first, let's hear from some high schoolers themselves.

Our Student Reporting Labs reached out around the country for our weekly segment Making the Grade.

Here's what some of what they had to say.