There were laws. Not many laws, mind, but still laws and she broke them. Since her defense was that her daughter had a learning disability, it makes even less sense to break the law since the system is heavily tilted in her favor to begin with. Learning disabled students are allowed to do things, like take untimed tests at a time of their choosing instead of in 50 minutes with the rest of the class for example. Also there are a buttload of tutoring opportunities available to say nothing of private assistance her mom could legally line up. Then there is the grade socialism that results from good students being assigned charge of crappy students for group projects for which the entire group receives the same grade. Typically these projects weigh heavily as a percentage of the final grade. Staying in, if you have the money, is a piece of cake. The problem is getting in.
She pleaded guilty to one count of "conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud."
I'll bet most Americans have never even heard of such a thing.
For what it's worth, the term "honest services mail fraud" is a "crime" that occurs when someone engages in some kind of dishonesty where the victim can't even demonstrate any kind of tangible loss. This was one of the charges brought against the various "Russian hackers" by Robert Mueller's team of prosecutors ... which ought to tell you exactly how idiotic the "crime" is.
For what it's worth ... all of us who post on Free Republic using a screen name instead of our real names could probably be charged with this same "crime."