As Merit-Aid Race Escalates, Wealthy Often Win - WP

[Burma Jones]

State Programs, Competition Between Colleges Fuel Rise of Scholarships With No Regard for Need


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63887-2005Apr18.html


Yet another instance of our "winner take all" society. Someday, there will be payback, and it will be hell.

[Technowitch]

1. Just a suggestion--

But in the future, you might want to include a small excerpt from the article, so we know a little more about what's in it and why we might want to go read it.

Excerpts up to four reasonably-sized paragraphs are allowed within the rules.

cheers,
-Technowitch

[Burma Jones]

2. Thank You - Good Moderator

Maybe I won't feel so rejected next time...........

:cry:

[alarimer]

3. I see nothing wrong with merit-based scholarships

it is a recognition of achievement and anyone with good grades can apply. To get rid of them in favor of need-based scholarships is wrong. Good football or basketball players get full rides all the time, why shouldn't good students? I dont care if their family is rich or not. Would you ask someone to give up a Fulbright or Rhodes schoarlship because their family is rich?? Utter crap.

I got a full ride for being class valedictorian in high school even though my parents could have afforded the school I went to. I deserved it. Besides my parents did not believe in paying for my education; I would have had to pay for it myself or with loans most likely. I kind of agree with them although college is a lot more expensive now than when I went. If I had kids, I would expect them to at least help pay for it themselves.

[enki23]

4. because valedictorians overwhelmingly come from affluent families

that there are exceptions doesn't change reality. wealthy kids have more opportunities, more encouragement, and more time. they have better nutrition, better free time, better home lives, better health care, and better educations. to give money to students who don't need it at the expense of those who do is a greater wrong than to take away money from those who "deserve" it and give it to those who are less "deserving" based on academic criteria.

i say that as someone who got a merit based scholarship, and also needed the money. though, i sure as hell wasn't valedictorian. they treated me like i was stupid, and an outsider, my entire school career. that is, until i aced the ASVAB, and they grudgingly decided to let me take the national merit scholarship qualification test. my class rank was nothing to crow about, but that may have been due in part to the fact that i worked thirty-five hours a week for cash, and god knows how many hours on the farm for my father. i slept most of the day during classes, and didn't have much motivation to impress the fucking pricks i went to school with. that's reality for untold thousands of kids in our schools. the wealthy kids got to play basketball and go home. maybe even do homework. i got to work in fast food almost full time and shovel shit for a good deal of the rest. i did my homework over lunch break and in the five minutes we got between classes.

in any case, you and i are in the minority. it should be our goal as a society to make sure that everyone who is accepted by public universities has the funding to be able to go. that's priority one. nobody who gets in gets left behind because they can't afford it. once that goal is met, we can move on to scholarships based on merit.

[alarimer]

5. Actually I believe college should be free

At least state schools.

All those things you say are true but that does not change the fact that people who earn scholarships work very hard for them, regardless of family circumstance. They deserve rewards for their hard work. Middle-class or higher students should not be penalized because they are not poor. College is no longer affordable for even families of middle-income range. We really need to fund colleges in such a way that we can have both. I don't like this idea of pitting well-deserving middle-class students against poor students. It isn't fair at all.

[KakistocracyHater]

6. 140% increase vs. 22% increase

I don't think you understand just how penalized the smart but poor are. The poor-but-brilliant student who doesn't get that scholarship just gets stuck at Walmart or some other inappropriate place. What other options are there for them?! I'm sick & tired of this sense of entitlement-this first in line.

[GetTheRightVote]

7. The gifted come from many classes not just the wealthy, and many

times the most talented are from the lower classes which have no way of paying the higher cost of education, education should be available to all which would only strengthen our economy.

:kick: