A good amount of Chicago families have been partaking in what some are calling a scam. Parents are giving up custody of their teenagers when they are in their junior or senior years of high school so that the students can qualify for financial aid. The students in turn then qualify for a significant amount of financial aid and in some cases get to attend college for free due to not being tied in with their wealthy parents incomes. The Wall Street Journal found out upon investigating that in 2018 there were at least 38 cases in Illinois Lake County, a suburb of Chicago that is filled with wealthy families. This process is not technically illegal, it's a loop-hole to make college more affordable for these students. If you had this knowledge, which by the way was given to these families by a college consulting company called "Destination College" based in Illinois, would you partake in this and give up custody of your children so they could qualify for a substantial amount of financial aid?
I think what is the most shocking part about this story is not that people found a way to cheat the system, but that it was wealthy people who did it! It would be one thing if it was families who were struggling financially and honestly couldn't afford it but the people who are partaking in this are rich and can afford it! We're talking about doctors, lawyers, businessmen and women, etc. In one case of one of these students, their parents made a gross annual income of over $250,000 & to boot they owned a house that was worth over $1 million! You think they can afford college tuition? I don't blame people for finding a way to get around the system, it just annoys me that it's wealthy people and not those who actually need it...
-Producer Lightning