Somebody's worried ... Lori Loughlin is now open to making a plea deal with prosecutors in the "Varsity Blues" college admissions lawsuit that finds the Full House star accused of buying her daughters' way into USC through a college counselor who got the girls recruited for the rowing team, even though they'd never done crew in their lives.

Loughlin and hubby Mossimo Giannulli paid a reported HALF MILLION DOLLARS to counselor Rick Singer in exchange for Olivia Jade and Bella's admission to the University of Southern California. When the scandal broke and the couple were outed for their wrongdoings, Loughlin maintained her innocence and rejected a plea deal, but now she's changing her tune.

Lori "has asked her lawyer to negotiate a plea deal that would involve no jail time, but home confinement with monitoring via ankle monitor,” a source tells Us Weekly. “She’s willing to pay a substantial fine, over $2 million."

The insider says that unfortunately it's too little, too late -- that any plea deal would now include jail time. The source goes on to say Giannulli doesn't want any plea deal and expects to be "fully exonerated."

Meanwhile, a source tells People magazine that Aunt Becky's feeling remorseful, yet still innocent: "Lori is remorseful, and she has definite regrets. She’s embarrassed and hurt, and she knows that her reputation has been ruined for life. But she also believes the allegations against her aren’t true. She honestly didn’t think what she was doing was any different than donating money for a library or athletic field. That’s the crux of why she pleaded not guilty."

Fellow "Blues" scandal perpetrator Felicity Huffman is scheduled to be sentenced in her case on Sept. 13.