Parents Are Giving Up Custody of Their Kids to Get Need-Based College Financial Aid — ProPublica

Parents Are Giving Up Custody of Their Kids to Get Need-Based College Financial Aid — ProPublica

• First, parents turn over guardianship of their teenagers to a friend or relative. Then the student declares financial independence to qualify for tuition aid and scholarships.

Dozens of suburban Chicago families, perhaps many more, have been exploiting a legal loophole to win their children need-based college financial aid and scholarships they would not otherwise receive, court records and interviews show.

...Parents are giving up legal custody of their children during their junior or senior year in high school to someone else — a friend, aunt, cousin or grandparent. 
The guardianship status then allows the students to declare themselves financially independent of their families so they can qualify for federal, state and university aid, a ProPublica Illinois investigation found.

“It’s a scam,” said Andy Borst, director of undergraduate admissions at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 
“Wealthy families are manipulating the financial aid process to be eligible for financial aid they would not be otherwise eligible for. They are taking away opportunities from families that really need it.”..."
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