Colleges do have the right to check students’ social media to get a better understanding of the students’ mindset. Many colleges make it a priority to check possible future student’s social media, even if they are already committed. This is a very controversial topic because there are two definite sides to the argument. As Sarah Ryan said, “I do not think they have a right because it’s our personal profile, it shouldn’t be open to people we don’t want access to it”. That is one side, but after interviewing many committed students, it is evident that most believe that colleges should have the right to check their social media as a factor in the decision of them coming to their college.

College scholarships are important to many students, especially those who are already committed. Many admit that if they were to post something inappropriate, and have their scholarship taken away, it would be their fault. “I would obviously be upset if I lost my scholarship, but I would understand that it was my own fault.” Says committed senior, Kristen Coury. It should be a students’ standard to keep their account appropriate,and they should decide not to jeapordize their chance of getting into college. For example, according to USA today, one athletes dream of getting into college was crushed when one tweet ruined this for him. Committed to Marymount University for basketball, the college recruiter “found his twitter account, looked through it and some of what we saw isn’t representative of what our university is about”. This is just one example of many, that shows that posts on social media can take away something worked so hard for, such as a scholarship.

As Montana Sutton (2015) says, “If you are putting [an inappropriate post] out there on social media in the first place it’s fair game. Therefore, you must be sensible about what you post.” Choosing to get any social media, is a person’s decision, but they have to understand that anyone can see what they post. Especially, if there is any suspicion about that student, colleges have the right to go through anything about them that is open to the public. People who think that colleges do not have this right to look through their social media, they should think otherwise, because as many adults have always told students “everything you post on the internet, never goes away, even if you try to delete it”.