Lori Loughlin and Husband Mossimo Giannulli Plead Guilty in College Admissions Scandal

Lori Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, have thrown in the towel in their college admissions case ... agreeing to plead guilty, and maybe the reason lies in the sentences.

Lori and Mossimo have each agreed to plead guilty to one conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud. Mossimo will also plead guilty to honest services wire and mail fraud.

Now the sentences ... Lori has agreed to 2 months in prison and a $150,000 fine and 2 years probation. She also has to perform 250 hours of community service.

Mossimo will serve 5 months in prison with a $250,000 fine and 250 hours of community service.

It's a Titanic-like sea change for the couple ... they had vowed to fight the charges. As for why the change of heart ... they were facing multiple felonies -- the feds kept adding charges the longer they resisted -- and if convicted on all counts could have served more than 40 years each behind bars.

You'll recall ... Lori and her husband are accused of paying $500,000 in bribes to get their daughters into USC, faking a photo that made it look like the girls were college-caliber rowers.

Lori's sentence is harsher than fellow actor Felicity Huffman, who was sentenced to 14 days.