This paper explains that the system of student
financial aid has been set up with an ethical purpose, and, as such, it can
be argued that any attempt to deceive the system is unethical, since it defeats the envisioned end of achieving social justice. The author states that John's parents need to focus on harnessing public support to reform a faulty system rather than resorting to cheating, which represents a solution that only perpetuates an injustice rather then resolving it. The paper suggests that a better formula for
financial aid could be based on criteria that takes into account the number of children in the family who have yet to go to
college or who are already in college and a family's annual income, excluding earnings from assets built up over the long term.