Scholarships?
Question:
Answer:
If low income students, who meet the gpa requirements, file the proper paperwork most of their education is paid for through state and federal grant programs. The paperwork is not easy to navigate, and often low income parents don't understand the process, deadlines, etc. to nag their kids to get the paperwork filed on time. So while there is a system in place to provide free educaiton for the poor, frequently the poor don't understand it, or use it.
Wealthy students won't qualify for state or federal grants, but might be claiming a larger portion of merit money at colleges for a few reasons:
A student in this demographic is more likely to attend a college prep high school where merit scholarships are the foucs.
A student in this demographic is more likely to have academic tutoring or enrichment and have a higher gpa, a well rounded activity profile and have a larger volunteer history. They often receive higher test scores as well.
A student from a wealthy family might have other opportunities to expand knowledge and life experiences such as academic tutoring, talent coaching, music or dance lessons, summer enrichment programs or travel.
A student in this demographic is more likely to have a parent who has also attended college and knows that colleges offer merit scholarships, and will seek out information on how to get their child's application in the right hands at the right time.
The income level isn't relative to how smart a student is, but it might be relavent to how much access and support a student has for scholarships.
In California, anyone under an income cap (it varies depending on the size of the family) per a year, can attend a public college or university and have tuition (fees) paid for by the state if they have at least a 3.0 gpa.
The students who reallly get hurt are the kids from families who are just barely over the income cap, and receive nothing.
It's crazy for the state and federal government not to offer more financial support for students in the mid-range income. Statistically our economy is bolstered with every college graduate that enters the work force. And as for the wealthy, if they have just as much right to compete for merit scholarships as anyone does.
I would be under the impression that those who are not as wealthy counterparts have just as much opppurtunity to fill out scholarships.
Why do they not get it? Let's look at a few things:
--Most low-to-middle income students in high school and college have to work. To keep up grades and keep on their job, they may not have much more than a few hours a week to fill out the neededs forms.
--Those students (L-t-M income) also are usually allowed to join work study in college, a form of financial aid.
The REAL students who get screwed are the students who don't qualify for financial aid, can't participate in work study, and have to push themselves to get a scholarship.
Also, I have noticed from experience (4 years in college) that most wealthy students do NOT get scholarships. In my college, everyone was given a community service scholarhips of $500. That was it.
Plus I should note that if a student, regardless of income, has the oppurtunity to fill out scholarship forms and participate in scholarship competitions and then chose NOT to, that's their own fault, not the fault of their socio-economic situation.
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