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College Financial-Aid Loophole: Wealthy Parents Transfer Guardianship of Their Teens to Get Aid
Amid an intense national furor over the fairness of college admissions, the Education Department is looking into a tactic that has been used in some suburbs here, in which wealthy parents transfer legal guardianship of their college-bound children to relatives or friends so the teens can claim financial aid, say people familiar with the matter.
The strategy caught the department's attention amid a spate of guardianship transfers here. It means that only the children's earnings were considered in their financial-aid applications, not the family income or savings. That has led to awards of scholarships and access to federal financial aid designed for the poor, these people said.
Several universities in Illinois say they are looking into the practice, which is legal. "Our financial-aid resources are limited and the practice of wealthy parents transferring the guardianship of their children to qualify for need-based financial aid—or so-called opportunity hoarding—takes away resources from middle- and low-income students," said Andrew Borst, director of undergraduate enrollment at the University of Illinois. "This is legal, but we question the ethics."
Also At:
https://www.propublica.org/article/university-of-illinois-financial-aid-fafsa-parents-guardianship-children-students
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2019/7/29/20746376/u-of-i-parents-giving-up-custody-kids-get-need-based-college-financial-aid-university-illinois
(Score: 4, Informative) by EvilSS on Tuesday July 30 2019, @01:28PM (18 children)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 30 2019, @02:11PM
Exactly. The system does not take into account the parent's willingness to pay.
Also, this is an old tactic. I saw it used in the late 80's and early 90's to get around "family wealth" limits related to student aid programs. Mostly kids making the move after they turned 18 because mom and pops weren't willing to pay for college. Sometimes initiated by the parents to preserve wealth. So, nothing new here at all.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 30 2019, @02:11PM (12 children)
Bet you repaid your loans? Think a richkid that borrows $100k for a gender studies course at a liberal arts college will repay theirs? Neither do their parents who are so offended that they disown their children before the Marxist indoctrination takes place.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 30 2019, @03:30PM (6 children)
Is it rich people that go study gender studies? Or middle class people on the dumb side?
Seems to only be useful for women as an Mrs. degree, or, given connections, as placement in random think tanks going along with membership in the local social scene. But you need to have victim attributes to avoid getting targeted for ostracism for being a white male there.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Tuesday July 30 2019, @03:39PM (5 children)
Yes.
"Or middle class people on the dumb side?"
Yes, them too.
Also poor folk that grew up with the state for a daddy.
Not all of each class, of course, but each has a certain vulnerability that's exploited for some hits.
"Seems to only be useful for women as an Mrs. degree, or, given connections, as placement in random think tanks going along with membership in the local social scene. But you need to have victim attributes to avoid getting targeted for ostracism for being a white male there."
Most of them are white males though. I know it seems counterintuitive, but it's clearly true. Red teams are better than 90% male, and all teams together must be at least 75%.
It makes perfect sense when you think about what males are programmed to do. They're demonstrating their virtue by taking chances on behalf of others. At one level it's pure altruism, it's just being exploited by other people that have influence over the actors - very often professors.
Since most of them are white males and know they can be converted from savior to devil in the blink of an eye as a result, they are extra motivated to constantly show their fervor, their correctness. To signal their virtue, and maintain their status in the in-group.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 30 2019, @06:17PM (4 children)
Most poor people I've known had, by the time they left high school, pretty realistic ideas of what made economic sense. I feel gender studies would not have cut the mustard with them. Children of management level parents who had grown up in suburbia on the other hand...
A short distance from me are people in a touchy-feely part of "computer science" - soft sociology like topics to attract and boost female graduation stats. One guy who went through that program ended up working at a social justice type place in a major east coast cesspool. Leadership was the daughters of connected elites, but they let him work there. There was a proposal for some sort of outreachy program for girls or whatever, and he naively proposed why not aim at the underprivileged in the city. It was like he brought a ham sandwich to a kosher wedding. He got out-grouped immediately, along with some slander behind his back about being a creep or whatever. "You'll never work in this town again!"
He fled back home and managed to find a real job, but listening to him tell the sad tale confirmed my suspicions about that entire line.
What is a "red team" by the way?
(Score: 3, Touché) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday July 30 2019, @11:25PM (2 children)
If that were true, the credit card industry wouldn't be so lucrative.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 31 2019, @12:05AM (1 child)
I stand by what I said - people I knew who grew up poor knew what they could afford.
People I knew who lived beyond their means were the offspring of solidly middle-class parents fresh out of school with expectations of what their lives *should* be like with a college degree.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 31 2019, @09:48PM
Dude my upper middle class mother was SO fucking happy with the idea I was going to college.\
I made sure that it was cheap and had a worthwhile major... she didn't give a fuck about any of that.
She still rags my brother to go to school.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Wednesday July 31 2019, @01:46AM
I think that's typically true, or at least I hope it is. Certainly it's true in many cases. But in many other cases; it's simply not. It's those case that will be exploitable.
"What is a "red team" by the way?"
There are three teams represented across resistance cells. Blue team are the folks that are just going to peacefully demonstrate and pass information. They don't get access to much information, and they aren't expected to take part in any violence - but they may support it with chants, signs, etc. Yellow team are the folks that are actually organizing the event, watching for problems, coördinating responses.
And red team are the folks that are ready to smash whatever yellow team wants smashed. They know who they are, yellow team knows who they are, blue team doesn't necessarily know who they are (though individuals with longevity could probably make very accurate guesses.)
If yellow team decides you're a target (as they did recently with Andy Ngo) then blue team will jeer you and distract you with nonviolent attacks, while red team finds your back and pounds you. Both teams are garbed identically, and red team can disappear into blue team if any cops try to interfere.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by EvilSS on Tuesday July 30 2019, @06:46PM
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Tuesday July 30 2019, @10:23PM (2 children)
When I was in school loans were National Direct Student Loans, with an interest rate of 3%. You could pay them back with an income not much above minimum wage.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 30 2019, @10:55PM
The unsubsidized loans I was offered were over 10% and they can't be discharged on bankruptcy. My CC has an interest rate of 13% and could be discharged if absolutely necessary.
(Score: 2) by EvilSS on Wednesday July 31 2019, @01:22PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 31 2019, @03:41AM
If only we had Jewish Marxist indoctrination and free Obamacare sex changes in college. I'm sure they do in the prime universe, but we are in the mirror universe, alas.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 30 2019, @05:40PM (2 children)
You could have moved out or joined the coast guard reserve. Or you could do what these people have done which is quite clever.
(Score: 2) by EvilSS on Tuesday July 30 2019, @07:00PM (1 child)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 31 2019, @09:45PM
Well then have them transfer your guardianship to the maid.
You could have but you weren't thinking like a rich man.
(Score: 2) by Dale on Wednesday July 31 2019, @05:16PM
I was in the exact same boat. My dad working a 2nd job to keep from going under pushed my parents' income over the threshold where I could get financial aid. The fact that I was living in my own apartment, working over 40 hours per week, and fending for myself didn't enter into the equation.