Parents giving up custody of their kids to get need based financial aid

[Anonymous]

Follow up story: Federal Dept of Ed IG has known about this scheme and recommends the FSA office add language to the FAFSA stating that if a student with a guardian receives health or financial support from a parent, they won’t qualify.

https://www.propublica.org/article/college-student-financial-aid-guardianship-loophole-us-department-of-education#

[Anonymous]

There are many people who get zero support from their families for college who can't get any type of financial aid because of their parents' income. Once they are over 18, even if they pay all their own expenses, there is no way (other than getting married) to not have their parents' income considered for financial aid purposes. If I were in that boat, I'd try to get declared independent of my parents before I become 18. If they aren't paying for me once I move out, I don't consider it fraud. If the government feels so strongly that parents should pay, count their support and garnish their wages for their deemed portion. It's not fair to not do that and then attribute income to students who don't see a dime.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Follow up story: Federal Dept of Ed IG has known about this scheme and recommends the FSA office add language to the FAFSA stating that if a student with a guardian receives health or financial support from a parent, they won’t qualify.

https://www.propublica.org/article/college-student-financial-aid-guardianship-loophole-us-department-of-education#

Bit fixed yet. Ed dept recommended a change. Hasn’t happened yet

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are many people who get zero support from their families for college who can't get any type of financial aid because of their parents' income. Once they are over 18, even if they pay all their own expenses, there is no way (other than getting married) to not have their parents' income considered for financial aid purposes. If I were in that boat, I'd try to get declared independent of my parents before I become 18. If they aren't paying for me once I move out, I don't consider it fraud. If the government feels so strongly that parents should pay, count their support and garnish their wages for their deemed portion. It's not fair to not do that and then attribute income to students who don't see a dime.

They are paying for their kids health insurance during college, and few moved out. They are not independent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are many people who get zero support from their families for college who can't get any type of financial aid because of their parents' income. Once they are over 18, even if they pay all their own expenses, there is no way (other than getting married) to not have their parents' income considered for financial aid purposes. If I were in that boat, I'd try to get declared independent of my parents before I become 18. If they aren't paying for me once I move out, I don't consider it fraud. If the government feels so strongly that parents should pay, count their support and garnish their wages for their deemed portion. It's not fair to not do that and then attribute income to students who don't see a dime.

They are paying for their kids health insurance during college, and few moved out. They are not independent

In the cases in the article, but there are many students who don't get any support and are still burdened with counting their parents' income.

[Anonymous]

I thought about this. I’m a single mom of two and ex will not be helping. But my income is at $180k so I anticipate no help. Meanwhile my mom lives in upstate NY and if my eldest went to live with her could qualify for NY free tuition.
As you know $180 is not much around here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought about this. I’m a single mom of two and ex will not be helping. But my income is at $180k so I anticipate no help. Meanwhile my mom lives in upstate NY and if my eldest went to live with her could qualify for NY free tuition.
As you know $180 is not much around here.

Your kid moving to NY and legitimately establishing residency there is totally different from this story. States all have clear rules about how to establish residency for in-state tuition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are many people who get zero support from their families for college who can't get any type of financial aid because of their parents' income. Once they are over 18, even if they pay all their own expenses, there is no way (other than getting married) to not have their parents' income considered for financial aid purposes. If I were in that boat, I'd try to get declared independent of my parents before I become 18. If they aren't paying for me once I move out, I don't consider it fraud. If the government feels so strongly that parents should pay, count their support and garnish their wages for their deemed portion. It's not fair to not do that and then attribute income to students who don't see a dime.

They are paying for their kids health insurance during college, and few moved out. They are not independent

In the cases in the article, but there are many students who don't get any support and are still burdened with counting their parents' income.

Well yeah ... our higher ed finance system generally views parents as having the responsibility to help pay for undergrad until the child is 24. There are a lot of messed up things about college costs, but I can't really get that exercised about this one. For really extreme cases (abuse) individual financial aid officers can override the policy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's already a thread on this. People have pointed out that if universities and colleges weren't so greedy, and top administrators so obnoxious, that families wouldn't go to such lengths. In European countries, nobody does this because tuition is very reasonable, if not free.

When people start doing crazy things, it's wise to look at the overall picture, instead of blaming the individuals.

No way. Plenty of parents and students cope with high tuition bills without committing fraud and robbing students who are actually poor of financial aid.

They shouldn't have to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's already a thread on this. People have pointed out that if universities and colleges weren't so greedy, and top administrators so obnoxious, that families wouldn't go to such lengths. In European countries, nobody does this because tuition is very reasonable, if not free.

When people start doing crazy things, it's wise to look at the overall picture, instead of blaming the individuals.

No way. Plenty of parents and students cope with high tuition bills without committing fraud and robbing students who are actually poor of financial aid.

They shouldn't have to.

Ok, but it doesn't excuse fraud. And I certainly HOPE you're not one of those people who follows people with MD license plates around after drop-off at your DCPS ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's already a thread on this. People have pointed out that if universities and colleges weren't so greedy, and top administrators so obnoxious, that families wouldn't go to such lengths. In European countries, nobody does this because tuition is very reasonable, if not free.

When people start doing crazy things, it's wise to look at the overall picture, instead of blaming the individuals.

This is fair, but families growing up in poverty don’t get this benefit of the doubt.

[Anonymous]

Stop subsidizing, everyone pay the same lower rate

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stop subsidizing, everyone pay the same lower rate

Who is subsidizing whom?

Like it or not, affordable college will mean more taxes -- the issue is that states have stopped investing in colleges.

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/09/why-is-college-so-expensive-in-america/569884/

[Anonymous]

Off topic a bit - what bugs me is the tuition responsibility and health insurance but we won’t be notified if DC has health issues by the school. - either they are a dependent or not

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Off topic a bit - what bugs me is the tuition responsibility and health insurance but we won’t be notified if DC has health issues by the school. - either they are a dependent or not

You are neither "responsible for tuition" nor obligated to pay for health insurance for your 18yo. You have the option to keep them on your insurance, and your income is included in calculating their eligibility for aid.

And regardless, there's no basis in law for overriding an adult's privacy rights. Not even paying their tuition.