What Will Some Wealthy Parents Not Do if a Free Buck to be Made?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To quote one poster:

"Parent’s income and assets shouldn’t determine the price of a future working adult’s college education, but that’s exactly what the aid and so-called scholarship system has produced in just the last two decades. That and exorbitant tuition costs that are not justifiable.

This is the real scam."

Yes, this.

How is this a scam? I am a parent who fully intends to pay 75-100k per year for each of our 3 kids to go to college. Am I happy about spending that amount of money? No. But I know that's what it costs so I will willingly shoulder the burden. That's my choice and I know it going into it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Berlin said families who are going this route are in a financial position where their income is too high to qualify for financial aid but they still will struggle to pay for college. While this is an atypical use of guardianship, Berlin said, families have a strong legal basis for bringing the cases. The law doesn’t preclude it, she said.
“It’s a solution they have been able to find as college costs go up and they are unable to pay,” she said. “It is in the best interest of the minor, which is the statute’s purpose.”

Are these parents who would struggle to pay for college, or parents who would struggle to pay $65K for college?

We don't qualify for aid and we can afford about $40K for college. As far as I know, it is not abusive or neglectful to send your kid to a bachelor's program that costs less than a quarter of a million dollars.

DC wants to go to grad school without loans, so he is opting to go to an in-state school that costs $23K. He had a more prestigious option that would have cost closer to $40K and I think he made the right choice.

And when he gets either place, he will find kids no more deserving than him, who paid nothing or next to it. My freshman roommate received a non-merit scholarship that included tuition, room, board and a monthly stipend she picked up from the Bursar. As a reward her doctor/lawyer parents bought her a brand new $50k car. I took out loans to the max as my parents were a construction worker and secretary with no college degrees. Why? Because I am white and my roommate wasn’t. Flame all you want - this is the God’s honest truth.

I think the situation you described will not happen now, at least in Ivys and other elite colleges. Now the colleges/universities give preference to first-gen applicants and applicants with parental incomes less than $60K get free tuition, room, and board. They may even get stipend to cover books and travel. And it is race-blind. You are unlucky you were born earlier. Your roommate was lucky she was born earlier because now, due to her parents' income, she wouldn't qualify for any financial aid. She will still qualify for preferential admission, if she belongs to designated minority groups. On the other hand, though she would be minority in census sense, she would have more difficulty to get admission than you, if she is an Asian (including from India) American. These are the facts.

[Anonymous]

I truly hope the school acts to recover damages from those students. The consultant that promoted this scheme needs to be investigated. Is this only an Illinois loophole or are parents doing this across the country? Surely every school will be looking into this before releasing aid money. While the practice of transferring guardianship may be legal, the intent to defraud seems pretty evident and I think will result in penalties all around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish the publications mentioned the race of the parents/students resorting to the above described practice. It will be very revealing.

Hmm.. they're wealthy Chicago area parents; that probably narrows it down a bit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To quote one poster:

"Parent’s income and assets shouldn’t determine the price of a future working adult’s college education, but that’s exactly what the aid and so-called scholarship system has produced in just the last two decades. That and exorbitant tuition costs that are not justifiable.

This is the real scam."

Yes, this.

wha ...? I am all for reducing college costs, but your parents should absolutely have to contribute what they can.

Can you put the rationale for your thinking in words, other than to use the word "absolutely"?

I don't think anyone except you need this explained.

Again, try using words instead of insinuations. Here's an attempt: "Parents are asked to pay for their adult children's college expenses (*) because .... "

For extra credit, also complete the sentence: "If parents who are asked to pay do not pay, their children do not have a recourse because ... "

Try it, and then proofread what you were trying to say.

See how difficult this is?

(*) except if they allowed their underage children to marry, or their children chose to have grandchildren, or the relinquished custodianship of their children

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To quote one poster:

"Parent’s income and assets shouldn’t determine the price of a future working adult’s college education, but that’s exactly what the aid and so-called scholarship system has produced in just the last two decades. That and exorbitant tuition costs that are not justifiable.

This is the real scam."

Yes, this.

wha ...? I am all for reducing college costs, but your parents should absolutely have to contribute what they can.

Can you put the rationale for your thinking in words, other than to use the word "absolutely"?

I don't think anyone except you need this explained.

Again, try using words instead of insinuations. Here's an attempt: "Parents are asked to pay for their adult children's college expenses (*) because .... "

For extra credit, also complete the sentence: "If parents who are asked to pay do not pay, their children do not have a recourse because ... "

Try it, and then proofread what you were trying to say.

See how difficult this is?

(*) except if they allowed their underage children to marry, or their children chose to have grandchildren, or the relinquished custodianship of their children

That's right. Let them take out loans and work to get themselves through college like I did because my parents had nothing to help me out with.

[Anonymous]

Technically it makes no sense to include parental income as students are adults when they turn 18. They should charge everyone a reasonable price and reduce their spending to keep things affordable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To quote one poster:

"Parent’s income and assets shouldn’t determine the price of a future working adult’s college education, but that’s exactly what the aid and so-called scholarship system has produced in just the last two decades. That and exorbitant tuition costs that are not justifiable.

This is the real scam."

Yes, this.

How is this a scam? I am a parent who fully intends to pay 75-100k per year for each of our 3 kids to go to college. Am I happy about spending that amount of money? No. But I know that's what it costs so I will willingly shoulder the burden. That's my choice and I know it going into it.

The colleges are reallocating the money so they can be generous with other kids on your expense. You are lucky you have the income to send 3 kids to college on $100K each. For that amount I hope you send them to graduate school to.

[Anonymous]

The money in the cases that ProPublica Illinois primarily came from federal Pell Grants and the State of Illinois MAP program.

Whether they got private scholarships or university scholarships is unclear. Also these cases involved the University of Illinois and U of Wisconsin. So far no privates have been found.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Technically it makes no sense to include parental income as students are adults when they turn 18. They should charge everyone a reasonable price and reduce their spending to keep things affordable.

At some point, yes, students are considered independent of their parents for financial aid purposes. But the process to do this is already established, precisely to avoid scams like this one, and because the default is that MOST parents DO give their resources to their 18-22 year olds to attend college. It would be unfair to ignore that ability to pay. I agree that college costs should be reduced, but I think it's perfectly fine to consider parental assets & income for 18-22 year olds.

https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/fafsa/filling-out/dependency#dependent-or-independent

[Anonymous]

Shrugs.

I have a nephew. Son of a single mother. I pay his private school tuition ($35k a year) and my parents helped my sister buy her house, a modest rowhouse in a very nice area, and pay for his camps and tutors and activities and trips abroad. If you met my nephew, he will come across as a nice upper middle class kid. When the time comes to go to college, based on my sister's income and assets he will qualify for substantial financial aid despite that the larger family is more affluent and could easily pay his tuition. We will do it if it needs to be the case, but you better believe we're going to game the system to try to get as much financial aid as we can. We're not going to pass up that chance. The system is broken, dysfunctional and hypocritical and we're not going to take the higher moral road because there is none.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Shrugs.

I have a nephew. Son of a single mother. I pay his private school tuition ($35k a year) and my parents helped my sister buy her house, a modest rowhouse in a very nice area, and pay for his camps and tutors and activities and trips abroad. If you met my nephew, he will come across as a nice upper middle class kid. When the time comes to go to college, based on my sister's income and assets he will qualify for substantial financial aid despite that the larger family is more affluent and could easily pay his tuition. We will do it if it needs to be the case, but you better believe we're going to game the system to try to get as much financial aid as we can. We're not going to pass up that chance. The system is broken, dysfunctional and hypocritical and we're not going to take the higher moral road because there is none.

Sorry, but you know their is a high ground, and you are not choosing it. Hence your use of the term “game the system”.

You do you, go ahead. To some, ethics are more important than money or sibling jealousy. The lucky poors!

[Anonymous]

I am a DC resident, no instate options, and the nearly 200k PER child I set aside for them was blown with their undergraduate degree alone. I wish I wasn't obligated to live in DC for work purposes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The money in the cases that ProPublica Illinois primarily came from federal Pell Grants and the State of Illinois MAP program.

Whether they got private scholarships or university scholarships is unclear. Also these cases involved the University of Illinois and U of Wisconsin. So far no privates have been found.

The article in ProPublica mentions “small private colleges”, but doesn’t list the schools.

[Anonymous]

I have to say, I don't think this is new. Two weeks ago I was talking to a woman in her mid-50s, who described how she did something that sounds very similar in the 1980s, on the advice of a relative who was a guidance counselor. She said she declared financial independence to qualify for more aid. She was not from a wealthy family, but not destitute either.