Student Grants: Government is cracking down on fraudulent student grants!

The government has an excellent program in which it awards students who cannot afford college tuition with government grants in order to help them get by. They can use the money in any way they choose. For example, some students may actually pay their tuition but need help with books, and living expenses. It is an awesome program because it provides more individuals with an education which in turn provides more opportunity, more jobs, and a better thriving economy. What a great way for the government to spend money right?
Well, the answer is yes as long as the free government grant money is actually going to students. Recently, the government has discovered a shockingly high amount of fraudulent applications where individuals pose to be students in order to live off of free government grants. I wasn’t too surprised when I found this out. My husband works for a University and deals with applications for grants and financial aid all the time. He works specifically for the Aviation Department. For anyone who isn’t aware, Aviation is a very expensive major because of all the time you have to spend renting the plane, and paying for instruction. He once told me I would be shocked to know how many people apply semester after semester for Government funding and get thousands of dollars in free government grant and then DROP all of their classes. If this alone is not shocking enough, they actually do over and over again! Apparently, the school cannot make decisions when it comes to government funding.
Certainly we all work too hard to just give away our hard earned tax dollar to students who in fact aren’t actually students!! So what steps is the government taking to put a stop to this? Well, the Student Loans Company (SLC) is going to carry out random investigations to student applications. They will randomly select a predetermined amount of applications and look deeper into the application. This audit would include talking to University Counselors, reviewing transcripts, and monitoring the applicant’s activities for a 3 month span.
The audit will also include diving deeper into the applicant’s income. A lot of applicants fail to claim all their household earnings. For example, an applicant may claim his mother’s income when in fact he is living with his father. Or they have a job in construction, or teaching lessons etc. that is “under the table” and therefore their real income does not actually show up on their tax returns which is what the government uses to determine how much free government grant money to give out.
I don’t, however, want to portray a negative attitude about free government grants for education because I am in fact a huge supporter. In fact, my husband and I would never be able to make it through his schooling if it weren’t for government grants. I am just appalled that people would take advantage of this great program and take a chance of ruining it for all of the honest students who need the government funding to make it through schooling.