<p>".maybe to avoid it being taken?"</p>
<p>Maybe to pay their legal fee. </p>
<p>I interpreted the passage as xiggi did, i.e., they under-reported to FAFSA the income, etc., that had been reported to the IRS. If they lied to the IRS, I imagine that would be the government’s top priority.</p>
<p>I feel sorry for the daughters. Will they be on the hook for the tuition they didn’t pay?</p>
<p>I know someone who worked under the table for 20 years, paid by check to “Cash” as were other employees of a 10 person firm. The boss was caught, for not filing various payroll taxes. He paid a fine and 10 people had no Social Security for those 20 years, and there was NOTHING done to recompense the employees or fine him anything NEAR what he owed the government and the employees.</p>
<p>IRS is not very effective, IMHO, in catching cheats. That’s why those of us who pay our taxes get irked when there are commercials about “pay next to nothing on owed back taxes!!!” etc.</p>
<p>As for cheating on CSS Profile/FAFSA - I would think that getting a loan or grant under false pretenses is stealing, pure and simple. Like saying you are someone famous and getting free stuff under their name.</p>
<p>It isn’t clear…the article says that the dad, “filed fraudulent income tax returns which became part of,” the FA process of FAFSA and CSS. </p>
<p>I do think that if he was only “creative” with CSS and FAFSA, he’d still be in big trouble since it sounds like he would have qualified for Pell Grants as well. </p>
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<p>I believe I have been saying this for the past 6 years - Nothing. I did not do any “financial gymnastics” legal or not. </p>
<p>That’s really difficult to believe. On the one hand there were constant brags about a 6 figure income, discretionary purchases, vacation travels to resorts and such (not referring to the business travel), purchases for hobbies, personal bankers, you name it, and then brags about investments and plans for retirement. All on the heels of getting major “need based” aid from 2 schools because you were “dirt poor”. Makes some want to run for their barf bags. Simply doesn’t pass the smell test.</p>
<p>“I would think that getting a loan or grant under false pretenses is stealing, pure and simple.”</p>
<p>Harvard will view it that way, and I’d be almost as scared of them as I would be of the IRS. Harvard can’t put people in jail, but they are one heck of an adversary in court.</p>
<p>Sorry maybe I am missing some thing, but what happened to the kids?</p>
<ol>
<li>Did Rochester rescind the diploma to the first kid?</li>
<li>In the BG article it says “former student”. Did the second kid graduated as well or she was expelled by Harvard? If so, should the student be penalized because of the adult squander the money? </li>
</ol>
<p>Pus DadII gets a new audience who doesn’t know his backstory
Jeez, if I were a kettle, I would NOT post articles highlighting one’s blackness.</p>
<p>And the GOP cuts funding to the IRS.</p>
<p>We know what side that they’re on.</p>
<p>
To apply the same logic harvard & other supporters use for DACA kids, why should harvard penalize the girl for something illegal her parents did?</p>
<p>This is bizarre - I had not heard about the case and googled his name to read more. Up pops his old resume, including address and cell phone number! Wow! My favorite line was from the introductory part of his resume - where he writes “demonstrated success of improved financial outcomes.” Rather ironic words now. He holds a BS in accounting and finance and an MBA. Probably thought he was smarter than the financial aid folks.</p>
<p>I wonder if the Harvard D would have been accepted if she didn’t show up as a low income applicant.</p>
<p>Is low-income a boost in admission at Harvard? Overcoming the handicap of lower SES might be a small boost when confirmed by other factors in the application, but it is fair to assume H likes the well-heeled a LOT more. </p>
<p>@xiggi
it seems like H and similar like both groups…the well-healed (who will hopefully be donors) and the lower SES types who have overcome disadvantages and difficulties. </p>
<p>So, it is possible that if the family presented itself as low-income, then maybe there was a boost. However, if the student had no idea that the dad was pretending to be low-income, then likely the student’s essay(s) didn’t support that presentation…which should have been a red-flag. So, I wonder if the student was aware of the lies and participated?</p>
<p>There is no certainty that essays describe the financial status of students. In fact, many low income students have to be pushed to mention hardships in their applications. </p>
<p>On the admissions preferences, the seminal research by Rose and Carnevale remains unchallenged. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.tcf.org/assets/downloads/tcf-carnrose.pdf”>http://www.tcf.org/assets/downloads/tcf-carnrose.pdf</a></p>
<p>Please note the comparisons between URM and low SES admissions. It is not close! Low SES are MASSIVELY underrepresented. Fwiw, the H finaid initiative that earned much applause was targeting people earning six figures. In many words, making the 200K family paying inside 20,000 per year. </p>
<p>With advance of Big Data and CS capabilities, I am just shocked that people think they could get away with this sort of thing. It is very easy to do cross checking now, it wouldn’t hard to figure out a family’s income and net worth. With all of Harvard’s resource, I am not surprised Harvard was able to catch this family.</p>
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<p>I know one family first hand - both parents are working professional with advanced degree. Their child got in H and the EFC was $30K a year. I don’t know how much the parents were making at that time. But I would not be surprised the income is around $200K.</p>
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<p>Exactly. That is main purpose I created this thread - don’t cheat or you will be caught. Especially if your income is clearly stated in a W2 and reported to IRS, like most of us. </p>
<p>“So, it is possible that if the family presented itself as low-income, then maybe there was a boost. However, if the student had no idea that the dad was pretending to be low-income, then likely the student’s essay(s) didn’t support that presentation…which should have been a red-flag. So, I wonder if the student was aware of the lies and participated?”</p>
<p>Our income is in the six figures and my S gets around $38K a year (down from $40K his 1st year) in need based aid from his school (grants not loans.) He went to private high school - which was obviously on his app. His essay was about how he feels when he is sailing - which he learned to do from going to pricey summer sleep away camp in the Adirondacks from the time he was 6 until age 14 - a sport which few low SES kids do. </p>
<p>That being said - we are not rolling in money and don’t jet off to Paris at the drop of a hat. We drive used cars and live in a modest home. </p>
<p>Schools which are generous with FA give very nice FA packages to students who are nowhere near being low SES. </p>
<p>And I doubt any FA office reads a student’s essay or app and likely has no idea of students EC’s or other things which might suggest student is not low SES. </p>
<p>There would have been no way that colleges could tell from S’s application that our income at that time was very low. Not from his ECs, the town, or anything else. It would have been reasonable for them to assume that our income was four times as much, as it was before that decade and after it. It probably worked to his detriment, since they likely assumed that he, like his classmates, took an SAT prep course and so forth.</p>