Actually, it’s not enough even if you are emancipated. At 17, they not only wanted my court documents showing legal emancipation, they wanted letters from 6 non-family members that I was not receiving any financial income from anybody, including a personal statement from myself detailing my situation and the fact that I supported myself and my parents refused to provide their tax information for the FAFSA form.
As they explained it to me, my legal status as an emancipated minor did not grant me automatic independent status, it was something that the individual school board decided to grant based on their own assessment of my situation.
I WAS granted this independent student status, though. I was required every year to write out a statement to the effect that my situation remained unchanged. Once I was in, it was fairly easy to stay in… but jeez, GETTING IN was hell.
And after all that, I was getting some little scholarships, grants and some work-study…
…until KABLOOIE! Out of nowhere I got this Dean’s Merit Scholarship for $7,500 a year. That scholarship saved my ass. I still owe $12k in student loans though. My education would have cost $80-100k all told, so can’t say as I can legitimately complain.
I completely agree it is really screwy how they determine which kids are in ‘‘need.’’ I knew so many kids whose parents pulled in $70k a year but wouldn’t give a dime to them. Those kids were basically screwed. I considered myself much more fortunate than them in regards to funding the education. My standard of living had never been as high as it became when I got to college. I never even had to get a job.
As regards to the OP, I see no problem with rich kids taking merit scholarships. My husband’s grandparents paid for his college education on the basis that he apply for all scholarships he could. In other words, ‘‘Yes, we’ll help you, but you also must be willing to work hard and help yourself.’’ I respect that.
I am a little bit surprised that Jeffrey accepted the academic scholarship, although it probably wasn’t for much. My husband went to a local Catholic school here in Chicago (as did Jeffrey) and my husband won some scholarship for 500 a year from a local organization. It was based on some test score, and he didn't even have to apply for it. Private high schools often get support from organizations that give for scholarships, but it usually doesn’t amount to a whole lot of money per kid.
The funny thing is, Jeffrey is a walk-on to the Illini, and, as WhyNot mentioned, could have been drafted to a smaller school. If he had done that, he would be a scholarship player and not paid a dime for college.
I have no doubt, though, that Michael Jordan has more than made up for Jeffrey’s getting a scholarship with the philanthropy he’s been involved in around Chicago, so it doesn’t bother me too much. And, as a fellow Illini, I’m hoping that some of the Jordan dollars will go to the Illinois coffers over the next few years!
This isn’t an ethics thing. It would be an ethics thing if a family concealed income or assets to qualify for need-based aid. This is aid based on merit, not need.
As noble as it might be for a wealthy student to refuse a merit scholarship, he’s not necessarily helping the needy. The student doesn’t get to dictate where his refused money goes.
In my experience, merit-based scholarship funds are separate from need-based scholarship funds. A refused merit-based scholarship will be offered to another person with similar merit. Need won’t necessarily play into it. In fact, some scholarships that come from donations are designated by the donor to be one or the other. That means it’s not just that the student can’t say “help the needy with this money I refused”–the college may not be able to say that either. No poor student should look at a tendered athlete, or music scholarship student, or academic scholarship student, and assume that those student’ scholarship dollars took away from the need-based resources available to him. It’s hard to know without knowing more about the aid sources and aid policies at the school in question.
One might also ask what happens at graduation, when a kid with an inheritance enters the job market. Should he refuse bonuses? Ask his boss to pay him less so the salary can go to lower-paid staff?
As Dr. Huxtable once said to Denise “Your mother & I have money. You have nothing.”
If Jeffrey is offered a contract by a major league basketball team, should he turn it down because his father is wealthy? If he wants to marry a rich woman, should he be forced to marry a poor woman because she needs the money more?
I admire Jeffrey for not expecting a free ride through life, and working at being his own person.
Let’s all keep in mind why Illinois offered Jeffrey a walk-on role (he’s really not Division 1 quality…may improve there, but not yet)…Illinois wants a shot at his younger brother, who IS getting all of that Div 1 attention. I’d love to see him play at U of I. It can’t hurt that Weber can drop MJ’s name at recruiting time, either.
As to the OP…if Jeffrey competed for the scholarship, he should keep it. From what little I know about MJ’s psyche, I don’t see him telling Jeffrey to turn it down after he competed for and won it.
Oh, sure, but I don’t blame Jeffrey for taking the opportunity. He gets playing time at a Division I school, and he gets a decent education. I would have jumped at it, too. At least he seems to be putting some effort into it (although his free throws could use some work).
Keep in mind that there are some academic “scholarships” that aren’t necessarily something it’s possible to turn down, should the student be so inclined.
When I was an undergrad, I had a scholarship that was worth 3/4 of the normal undergrad tuition at the school I attended. It was granted to me based on my test scores and previous academic achievement - but it wasn’t a monetary award that could have been given to someone else. It was in the form of a tuition reduction and was specific to me only.
The school referred to it as an “academic scholarship”, but there was no fund from whence it came. There was no pool of dollars being used for my scholarship that would have been available to another (for purposes of the OP needier) student had I turned it down (which I was in no way tempted to do - my parents are public school teachers and I am not an only child). What they referred to as an academic scholarship was more a case of the school deciding that in my specific case, they were willing to charge less tuition - because my sterling performance on standardized tests and my 4.0 added luster to their numbers.
Indeed. I have something similar at my law school. Although they call it an academic scholarship, I actually have a partial tuition waiver. The most I can ever get from the school is zero tuition. There is no circumstance in which any part of my “scholarship” will be disbursed to me in cash. Rather than “giving” me money, the University simply allows notable students to attend without paying (or in my case, giving a substantial discount).
For example, over the summer I was named a Dean’s Scholar which comes with an additional $7500 “scholarship” of the same nature. If I had already been on full tuition waiver, I would simply not have received the bonus. This actually happened to several people – the money that isn’t spent doesn’t go anywhere. It probably never existed, in the sense of a pile of cash earmarked for a specific use, in the first place.
At the end of the day, I pay $2,000/year of $34,000/year tuition, so I’m not one to argue. But there is a difference between a “scholarship” where you actually get some amount of money, and a university which chooses to waive the cost of tuition.
Merit-based scholarships should be awarded on basis of merit and nothing else. It’s a way for schools to try to attract the best students possible and an honor for the student.
That said, it’s worth considering how the scholarships are paid out. I’m currently at a competitive liberal arts school on one of those merit based scholarships, and mine is awarded on a basis of merit, but isn’t a fixed dollar amount- it converts all the loans I would have qualified for into gift aid. The department that awarded the scholarship to me apparently sends a prioritized list of those who auditioned for the scholarship to the financial aid office, and the office goes down the list, covering loans until they run out of money. Not a bad way to run it, in my mind.
