Here’s the link to the old thread:
Here is the update:
Felony charges filed
Looks like the state is trying to make an example since restitution has already been made.
Good! Suspect it won’t go far, but glad they are not letting him off too easily. Oh, and the dau is now at her state (her real state) flagship. No surprise there.
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“We’ve had other universities ask how we found out about it. There has been a lot of interest.”
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I wonder if he would have been caught if he hadn’t also tried to get instate rates for another child in his real home state?
Also, it appears that someone “tipped” off authorities.
Occasionally we have people post here saying that they know that someone is cheating the system in some way and they want to report them (for pretending to be separated to qualify for Pell, or some other scam).
Can someone explain to me how he is facing charges? The D is a legal adult. It is her education and her tuition bill.
Note: in no way am I saying the D should face charges. I think, theoretically, they’re going after the right person… I just don’t understand the legal reason behind it.
I think because as the parent, he was providing the info that he had established residency by renting an apt in that state and pretended to live there. He provided false info about where he was living.
I see what you mean, though. The daughter fills out the school app and puts down her parent’s address, and she put down a “fake” address and claimed it to be her parent’s address. It sounds like the student also applied for FA, and the tax info didn’t match the supposed address. The parent should have realized that would expose the scheme.
The fact that the student didn’t go to a GA high school should have been the first red flag. If there was add’l documentation requested at that point, and the parent provided false info, then that may be why the dad is targeted and not the student?
I think the school thinks the student is just a victim of what her dad did, but really, when you think about it, the daughter likely insisted that she wanted to go to UGA, and the dad just tried to make it happen. In some ways, they’re both guilty.
You would think that the cost of the apt, minimal utilities, etc, would have been high enough to make the whole endeavor expensive to begin with.
Parents are responsible for tuition and I am sure the students was a dependent on the parents’ tax return. The authority was correct in assuming the parents were well aware of the address they used.
Its also possible the student was a minor when the contractual forms were signed by the family. And from the UGA residency requirements :
https://www2.admissions.uga.edu/article/residency-for-in-state-tuition.html Student is a dependent of the parent. Parent must meet instate residency requirements. He did not.
If they used the in state status to get the Hope scholarship the tuition was free. In state without Hope is $11,600. Out of state tuition is just under $30,000.
If she had the Hope, they could rent a very cheap apartment and easily come out ahead. In state tuition at UVA is around $14,000. If she didn’t have the Hope, UGA in state plus the apartment would be more than UVA in state.
Besides being deceitful and illegal it seems like a very complicated way to get your child an education.
No thats not quite right, Deega. The Zell Miller covers 100% tuition (up to 15 hrs). HOPE (last year’s figures) would pay a maximum of 15 hrs and will pay $3495 a semester. The Zell Miller paid up to $4295 a semester. HOPE will pay about 81% of tuition, and does not pay for room, board, ancillary fees, etc. As a freshman she would be required to live on campus (the dad didn’t claim to live in Athens) so no, she would not come out ahead, even if she really was an instate student. GA is inexpensive, but of the $25K or so estimated for an instate student, only approx $7-9K of the $25K COA (which is only a little less than the instate COA for UVA)
@jym626, You are right, I was thinking of the Zell. I was just comparing in state, out of state and scholarship assisted tuition costs. Room and board costs are similar at both schools so I left that out of the equation.
If you can get in-state tuition based on where a parent lives, she could put she lives in VA w/mom but get GA tuition if dad lives there. So I don’t know if she lied on her forms. It definitely looks like he lied on his though.
But dad doesn’t truly live in GA, per the documentation. He apparently had an apt in GA and used it for a total of a few months, per the linked article. Don’t believe he paid taxes in Ga, earned an income in GA voted in GA, had a car registered in GA, etc.
Daughter is a student at UVA now. From mother’s FB page, it looks like the parents are together.
Mother’s facebook page? Where was her mother’s name published that somonee can go peruse her facebook page?
The UGA newspaper has this article http://www.redandblack.com/uganews/stealing-hope-tuition-hikes-place-strain-on-students-college-payment/article_abbbb932-0d32-11e4-ac4a-0017a43b2370.html which says that the dad did in fact have an apartment in his name in Athens. (Keep in mind many parents rent apts for their college kids, but this does not appear to be the case in this situation). The article, which provides the student’s name, says they claimed instate tuition for both years she was there. Since students have to live on campus freshman year, its unclear when dad got this apartment and/or for what purpose. The article says they looked at some of his utility bills to identify usage.
They could have requested an on campus housing exemption since dad claimed to live in Athens, but it doesn’t appear, from the description of the utility bills, that she lived off campus in this apartment.
@jym626 Unfortunately for the family, their name is very unusual. A Google search and a couple of clicks can mine a lot of info. I would think based on this situation that their privacy settings would be pretty high but it appears not to be the case.
The family was featured in a magazine about their kitchen remodel. The daughter is now at UVA, where I think her sibling attends as well.
If the DD had lived in the apt (which I think is a purchased condo, actually), then there would have been utility use and entrance/exit recordings.
How’s the kitchen remodel look??