I guess there is an alternative to paying for college. Hmmmm. Here is the story:

CHICAGO— Dozens of suburban Chicago families gave up custody of their children to get need-based college financial aid in return, ProPublica Illinois reports.

ProPublica found more than 40 cases in the past year of this practice in north suburban Lake County, but is investigating at least five more cases in other counties. It is a legal loophole in the financial aid system.

Parents gave up custody of their children in their junior or senior year of high school— usually to an aunt, cousin, grandparent or family friend. The student can then declare themselves financially independent, which qualifies them for more aid.

Melissa Sanchez from ProPublica is one of the reporters to look into court records. She said the parents who gave up custody are usually affluent.

"The parents are lawyers, doctors, teachers, there's one that was a suburban assistant superintendent and their homes are worth a half million, a million dollars," Sanchez said.

The director of undergraduate admissions at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign said he became suspicious when a high school counselor from an affluent Chicago suburb called him last year to ask why a student had been invited to a program for low-income students. The university has since found 14 applicants who had obtained a legal guardian to receive the financial aid benefits.

A number of the students were high-achieving scholars, athletes and musicians. In addition to University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, students who used this loophole were noted to attend University of Wisconsin, University of Missouri and private colleges.

These students have attended some of the Chicago area's most prestigious schools including Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire and Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook. The article also cited high schools in Lake Forest, Libertyville, Vernon Hills and Grayslake.

This legal loophole allows the students access to thousands of dollars in federal and state grant money that they normally would never qualify for, which potentially leaves out actual lower income students from receiving aid.

"There's a limited amount available," Sanchez said. "There were 82,000 kids denied MAP grants from the state because there's not enough money to go around."

LINK: https://wgntv.com/2019/07/30/c...llege-financial-aid/

Good for them. The game is rigged and they’re playing by the rigged rules. A six figure salary and a nice zip code doesn’t always mean the ‘rents can write a check for tuition. The higher ed industrial complex is out of control. The wealthy don’t have issues paying. The poor get the free money. The middle class get fucked because they aren’t rich enough to cover the freight and have too much, at least on paper, to qualify for need based aid. We need to readjust the everybody goes to college mindset. We need tradesmen. They get paid more than poetry majors.

Berto-

"
These students have attended some of the Chicago area's most prestigious schools including Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire and Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook. The article also cited high schools in Lake Forest, Libertyville, Vernon Hills and Grayslake..."


These neighborhoods ARENT middle class at all. This is all upper class, high livin', high society areas. They found a loophole and are exploiting it.

And we are paying for it.

In the end, we pay for everything....

quote:

Originally posted by berto:
Good for them. The game is rigged and they’re playing by the rigged rules. A six figure salary and a nice zip code doesn’t always mean the ‘rents can write a check for tuition. The higher ed industrial complex is out of control. The wealthy don’t have issues paying. The poor get the free money. The middle class get fucked because they aren’t rich enough to cover the freight and have too much, at least on paper, to qualify for need based aid. We need to readjust the everybody goes to college mindset. We need tradesmen. They get paid more than poetry majors.

Yes, god forbid these people actually started saving for their children's education when they were born. Better to rely on others to pay for it. Real nice.

Sounds like theft to me.

Boy I just LOVED filling out the financial aid forms for college. What salary do your parents make? WHAT? WTF does that matter? My parents didnt give me a dime, wouldnt give me a dime, so why the FUCK do I have to put THEIR salary down on the form? Go fuck yourself!! Oh, were sorry, your parents make too much. You don't qualify for any financial assistance. Have a nice day

and why is tuition so high, and escalating so fast?


In Virginia, 80 percent of the highest-paid public employees are in higher education

Six-figure salaries for deans, directors, vice presidents

Nearly 80 percent of the highest paid state employees in the state of Virginia are public university staffers. Those individuals all pull down significant six-figure salaries, with one making over a million dollars per year.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch was able to obtain state employees’ salaries through the state’s Freedom of Information statute. The paper found that 19 of the top 25 highest-paid employees in the state are employed at public institutions of higher education.

According to the data, the top earner, Michael Rao, the president of Virginia Commonwealth University, is paid over $1 million annually. Nine of the salary earners hold positions at the University of Virginia, one of the state’s most prestigious public universities. The president of that university makes over $960,000 per year; the school’s chair of the department of surgery makes nearly $630,000.

Three of the staffers on the list work at Virginia Tech. That school’s vice president for advancement makes over $676,000 per year.

Tracy Vosburgh, a campus spokeswoman for Virginia Tech, defended those high salaries, stating that Virginia Tech is an “academically rigorous Research One Institution” and is “the land grant for the Commonwealth” that “strive[s] to have salaries that are competitive with our peers to attract and retain the best.”

“This list shows that Virginia Tech has attracted among the nation’s best in a few key positions at the highest level. The leadership at Virginia Tech has played a key role in the growth and economic stability of Roanoke and the region, the successful bid to bring Amazon and vital job growth to Northern Virginia and has positioned the university and the region in a strong position to educate and prepare the next generation in Virginia,” Vosburgh told The College Fix.

Laura Osberger, a spokeswoman for the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, offered a defense of the high salaries of the leaders of colleges and universities.

“College presidents manage multi-million and sometimes billion-dollar enterprises that affect the lives of thousands of people. Thus, college and university compensation is a factor of a competitive market and complex work. In Virginia, the Boards of Visitors of our public higher education institutions negotiate the compensation packages of presidents,” Osberger told The Fix via email.

“We know that universities also compete for top faculty, particularly in areas where they can bring high amounts of research funding to the institutions,” she added, citing a report from The Chronicle of Higher Education listing the salaries of numerous university presidents from around the country. Some are significantly higher than Rao’s. William McRaven, the president of the University of Texas system, makes over two and a half million dollars per year.

That list also shows how steeply such salaries can rise in a relatively short period of time. Rao’s salary in the 2009-2010 fiscal year was listed as $488,500. Since then his pay has increased by nearly 110 percent.

Vosburgh said of Virginia’s university leaders that “both market and peer review would show [the] salaries are appropriate.”

“This list…shows that Virginia is striving to be competitive in attracting the countries best to serve the needs of the Commonwealth,” she said, adding: “We are appreciative of the support we receive from the Commonwealth. Virginia has a long standing reputation for education excellence.”

Representatives from numerous other schools represented on the list, including Old Dominion University and the University of Virginia, did not respond to requests for comment. At ODU, school football coach Bobby Wilder makes well over half a million dollars. Carla Williams, the athletic director of the University of Virginia, makes nearly $570,000 per year.

https://www.thecollegefix.com/...in-higher-education/

I don’t want my tax dollars paying for your kids to go to college. That’s your responsibility not mine. Round them up and throw their but in jail. Well then I have to feed them etc.

College is cheating, corruption, greed and liberal insanity.
So maybe it does actually prepare you for life in current day America!

quote:

Originally posted by bigeinkcmo:
Does that mean if you could learn how to break into a bank and steal the money without being caught that's ok?

I'm not defending these parents which should be evident from my previous post, but I don't believe they actually did anything illegal. Technically that is. Whether or not it is morally wrong would seem to be the debate.

Even if something is not expressly illegal it certainly doesn't make it morally right.

We scrounged and saved to put our sons through 4 years of college with the understanding that if it took any longer it was on their nickel...
Guess what? They both graduated in 4 years and they didn't have any debt when they got out.

The GI Bill should be the only form of publicly funded college tuition.

"Parents gave up custody of their children"

How is this accomplished? Legal paperwork? Is it permanent or temporary?

Does it mean the kids will no longer be covered under he parents health insurance?

Not surprisingly, the rich people get lawyers to handle this for them: "Many, for example, say: “The Guardian can provide educational and financial support and opportunities to the minor that her parents could not otherwise provide.”

Reached by phone, Rogers [a lawyer] declined several times to comment about the families he represented, the process or why he sought a legal guardian for his son.

In my opinion this sort of legal manipulation is morally wrong. It is not the message I wanted to pass on to my children. Similar parents hire expensive legal help when their kids get DUIs or have some scrape with the school system. I call it flexible morality.

Even worse, these manipulations deprive others who are frankly more deserving but lack the financial means.

quote:

Originally posted by SevenPlusOne:
The GI Bill should be the only form of publicly funded college tuition.

This is the answer.

If you need money for school, try earning it.

And as an added bonus.... after 2yrs in the service of your country you can actually BE INDEPENDENT from your parents.