Parents Surrendering Custody of Their Kids in Latest Admissions Scandal

If you were upset that the college admissions scandal that dominated the media cycle all spring had finally started to die down, don’t worry, they’ve got a new one for you.

This time, instead of paying hundreds of thousands to have a professional edit their kid’s SAT scores or help them pose as varsity rowers, parents are instead looking to save money by exploiting the financial aid system. An investigation by independent news outlet ProPublica Illinois found that dozens of suburban Chicago families have been using a legal loophole to gain college financial aid they would not otherwise receive by giving up legal custody of their children.

By passing along legal guardianship of their high school-aged children to a willing friend or relative, parents enable those students to declare themselves financially independent and apply for federal, state and university aid for which they wouldn’t otherwise qualify.

College is, of course, nauseatingly expensive, and needy families may not always receive enough financial aid to cover the costs. Unfortunately, families in need aren’t the ones exploiting the system for more financial aid. ProPublica Illinois found that the parents involved in the more than 40 guardianship cases filed between January 2018 and June 2019 in the Lake County suburbs alone included wealthy lawyers, a doctor and an assistant schools superintendent, as well as insurance and real estate agents.

“It’s a scam,” Andy Borst, director of undergraduate admissions at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, told ProPublica Illinois. “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.”

Along with at least four dozen guardianships filed in Lake County, the investigation found similar guardianships filed in at least five other counties, and suggested the practice may be happening throughout the country.

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