Here's one of the real reasons so many state legislators insist on giving tuition waivers to favored constituents.

The Chicago Sun-Times recently reported that Democratic state Sen. Martin Sandoval gave a $8,200 tuition waiver to Illinois State University to the son of a local mobster who didn't submit the required transcript, write the required essay or sign his name to the scholarship application. The application also contained a false address.

Sandoval insists he didn't know anything about what happened and sought to withdraw the scholarship from the son of convicted felon Michael "Jaws" Giorango. Because Sandoval had no legal authority to take away the scholarship he gave, Giorango's son later wrote a letter disclaiming any interest in it and pledging to cover the tuition cost himself.

This latest example of how tuition waivers are abused by state legislators is dramatic, but still emblematic of a state program in which the powerful few provide tuition waives to their own relatives or children of special friends, campaign donors or fellow politicians.

It's hard to imagine that Sandoval is as ignorant of the tuition waiver process in his office as he claims. But even in the unlikely event that he is, it's pretty clear someone knew exactly what was going on.

Otherwise, how does an applicant who submitted a woefully incomplete application get the nod?

Members of the Illinois House and Senate each year are allowed to hand out tuition waivers to a handful of students in their districts. But because of intermittent scandals, the legislative scholarship program has been thoroughly discredited.

Some legislators refuse to hand out tuition waivers anymore. Others set up committee and try to award them on merit alone. But some legislators prefer the old way of doing business.

It's way past time for this program to cease. Mobsters make enough money to afford their own family's tuition costs.