SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Submitted via IRC for Bytram
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: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday July 30 2019, @11:06PM (5 children)
I agree, mostly. But, what is our welfare state, if not another socialist program? We already hand out thousands to undeserving parasites. What's the big deal if we stop calling it welfare, and call it universal income? We end up with the same results - undeserving parasites contribute nothing to society, except more mouths to feed.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday July 31 2019, @12:52AM (1 child)
welfare states currently are and look for examples which work even today.
Yeah, right. A case of Nirvana fallacy - "best as the enemy of the good" and "always go for gold, even if bronze would have been more appropriate".
Look, mate, if you have an inefficiency (e.g. paying parasites) that is way smaller than the overhead to avoid them all together, isn't irrational to go with the "principled solution"?
The same kind of thinking led to "war on drugs" even if many other examples of "harm reductions" show better outcome at lower cost.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 31 2019, @03:25AM
That depends on what the desired "outcome" was. War on Drugs has been very profitable for some.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 31 2019, @03:38AM (2 children)
That Greyhound uses socialist roads. Go build your own roads.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday July 31 2019, @02:25PM (1 child)
No, our highways are capitalistic. Greyhound, and all other commercial traffic pay huge sums of money to the states to keep their highways in usable condition. No socialism involved. Not every community good project is socialist.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 31 2019, @10:10PM
Wait it's not socialist when corporations pay taxes? Hmm interesting idea.