With all the other news stories that are crashing around us, I am having a bit of trouble wrapping my arms around what ought to be the biggest story of the year.

The college admission scandal! It involves wealthy Americans — including at least two prominent TV and film entertainers — shelling out big money to get their children admitted to prestigious universities.

I keep returning to this thought . . .

Suppose you’re a student who has applied to a university and you are denied admission. Your grades are good enough. Your SAT and ACT scores measure up. But the university has a cap on the number of incoming freshmen it can accept; that’s the case in several of Texas’s top public universities.

Then you hear that some son or daughter of a big-time donor gets admitted. You wonder immediately whether that new freshman got in totally on merit or was he or she able to slide in via deep-pocketed Mom and Dad’s connection with the school.

This scandal speaks to a whole array of matters that need careful examination. Privilege appears to be at the top of the heap. How many of our colleges and universities are involved in this horrible story? Are worthy high school graduates being denied admission because someone else has greased the palm of some university president, chancellor or regent?

The entertainers in question — Lori Laughlin and Felicity Huffman — have posted hefty bonds to be released from jail. Their troubles are just beginning.

So, too, should college and universities administrators squirm as this story continues to gather pace.

I hope we don’t lose interest in this matter.