I've a question on the whole Pell Grant thing: what where Pell Grants? And somehow I don't think we were the only school that abused them...
A Pell Grant is a federal grant of money to be used for college. It is needs-based.
You would never "apply" for a Pell Grant as a formal issue. You would simply fill out your Financial Aid form. If you qualified for a Pell Grant, you got one. If you didn't, you didn't.
When you filled out your FAFSA (financial aid form), they would send you two items. One was the form that you were supposed to give to UM. The other was a form you could send back, in order to make any "corrections".
Tony Russell knew the ins and outs of the form, income levels, marital status, etc. that would allow students to qualify for Pell Grants. So, for a fee of a couple hundred dollars, Tony would show students how to "correct" the original FAFSA that their parents filled out. Then, magically, the students would get Pell Grants that were $1K to $3K in size.
Tony testified that he did this for HUNDREDS of students (and student-athletes) at DOZENS of schools, including several of our rival schools in Florida. However, the feds never seemed to give a ****e about anyone outside of UM, and the NCAA **** sure didn't do anything to investigate anyone outside of UM.
All but 2 football players settled with the feds immediately, repaying the money and doing the community service, etc. Lamar Thomas and Jason Marucci delayed and were either indicted, or about to be indicted, and then they managed to work out settlements too.
The NCAA punished Miami because of (a) Tony Russell's actions, even though rogue, as an Athletic Department employee, and (b) the "lack of institutional control" associated with UM not checking the athletes' FAFSAs more closely (i.e., maybe a baseball player could "need" a Pell Grant, but not a football or basketball player, as they got full-ride scholarships).
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