Italian police crack down on poor Rome students

A crackdown on students in Rome claiming poverty to pay fewer fees and access subsidies found many with lavish bank accounts, hidden revenues and even one whose father owned a Ferrari, police said Thursday. In a statement, police noted that 84 percent of the 196,000 students in Rome said they and their families were too poor to afford university, giving them cutbacks on fees, transport subsidies and food coupons. Out of hundreds of students checked in 2013, the police said that 63 percent were found to have irregularities. The aim is to uncover "those who are not poor so as to help those who really need economic support," the statement said. One student's father had a Ferrari and a portfolio of properties although she declared revenues of 19,000 euros a year, while another said she earned 14,313 euros even though she had a fortune of 600,000 euros.