又一起大学入学丑闻?为了获得经济援助，父母失去了孩子的监护权
又一起大学入学丑闻?为了获得经济援助，父母失去了孩子的监护权
Dozens of college students from well-to-do families may be getting money reserved for poorer families thanks to a legal loophole: They're giving up custody of their children.
由于一个法律漏洞，许多来自富裕家庭的大学生可能得到了预留给贫困家庭的钱:他们放弃了对孩子的监护权。
The tactic is legal, but ethically questionable, said Andrew Borst, the director of undergraduate admissions at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Chief among his concerns: Financial aid money is limited.
伊利诺伊大学香槟分校(University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)本科生招生主任安德鲁·博斯特(Andrew Borst)表示，这种策略是合法的，但在伦理上存在问题。他最关心的问题是：财政援助资金有限。
"Money we give to one student is money not going to another student," Borst said.
“我们给一个学生的钱不是给另一个学生的，”博尔斯特说。
Here's how the scheme worked. ProPublica Illinois and The Wall Street Journalindependently reported Monday that families near Chicago would give up legal guardianship of their children to relatives or friends. Students would then file for financial independence, which effectively opened the door to financial aid they wouldn’t have been able to access while under the legal care of their parents.
这个计划是这样运作的。伊利诺伊州ProPublica Illinois和《华尔街日报》周一分别报道说，芝加哥附近的家庭将把孩子的法定监护权交给亲戚或朋友。然后，学生们将申请经济独立，这实际上为他们提供了一扇门，让他们在父母的法律照顾下无法获得经济援助。
The University of Illinois started investigating after high school counselors from "fairly wealthy neighborhoods" had called to inquire about low-income orientation programs they were unfamiliar with, Borst said. The university dug deeper and found a pattern of students entering into a legal guardianship, though they were still supported by their parents, he said.
博尔斯特说，伊利诺斯大学是在“相当富裕的社区”的高中辅导员打电话询问他们不熟悉的低收入入职培训项目后开始调查的。他说，学校进行了更深入的调查，发现了一种学生进入法律监护的模式，尽管他们仍然由父母供养。
The scheme bears similarity to tactics adopted by Rick Singer, the mastermind behind the nation’s largest college admissions scandal. In Singer's scheme, rich families also used their resources to secure advantages normally dedicated to those in need.
该计划与里克•辛格(Rick Singer)所采用的策略相似。辛格是美国最大的大学招生丑闻的幕后策划者。在辛格的计划中，富裕家庭还利用他们的资源来确保通常专门为有需要的人提供的优势。
For instance, Singer would instruct wealthy families to have their children diagnosed with disabilities. As a result, they got more time to take the ACT and SAT, college admissions tests, which could translate to higher scores.
例如，辛格会指导富裕家庭将他们的孩子诊断为残疾。结果，他们有更多的时间参加ACT和SAT(大学入学考试)，这可能会转化为更高的分数。
Borst said the University of Illinois had identified three students last year who had used guardianship to gain extra financial aid and potentially 11 students in the coming academic year. The university will not provide its own money to the students it has identified, but Borst said it can't legally prevent them from receiving federal or state money.
博斯特说，伊利诺斯大学去年已经确认了三名学生通过监护获得了额外的经济资助，下一学年可能还会有11名学生。该校不会向其确认的学生提供自己的资金，但博斯特表示，它不能在法律上阻止他们接受联邦或州的资金。
