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

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.

Coming months after the national “Varsity Blues” college admissions scandal, this tactic also appears to involve families attempting to gain an advantage in an increasingly competitive and expensive college admissions system.

https://www.propublica.org/article/university-of-illinois-financial-aid-fafsa-parents-guardianship-children-students#