Group Offers Scholarships for White Males

[ASTalumna06]

Hell, you can get a scholarship for wearing a duct tape dress/tux to the prom.

If some kid wants to show up lookin' all gray and shiny for the biggest formal event of his/her young life for a few thousand dollars, I say go for it!

God bless America.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by Senusret I

Second, it IS different than scholarships for women and minorities because of institutional sexism and racism which we still have not "overcome" in this country, as evidenced by salary disparities among men and women, and among whites and minorities. Race-based scholarships and gender-based scholarships were established to level the playing field -- not to stick it to the man.

THIS scholarship was established in racism. You don't have to have a problem with it for it to still be problematic.

AGREED.

Also, I think it is patently untrue that there are "no scholarships for white people". There are scholarships for people of Polish origin, or Irish origin, or descendents of the Mayflower, or any other number of things that really mean "white".

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

AGREED.

Also, I think it is patently untrue that there are "no scholarships for white people". There are scholarships for people of Polish origin, or Irish origin, or descendents of the Mayflower, or any other number of things that really mean "white".

Serious question...

Do most scholarships for minorities specify where exactly they (or their descendants) came from? (i.e. whether you're from Iran, or China, or Jamaica, etc.?) Or are they more general based on ethnicity or skin color? ... Middle-Eastern, Asian, Black, etc.?

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

Serious question...

Do most scholarships for minorities specify where exactly they (or their descendants) came from? (i.e. whether you're from Iran, or China, or Jamaica, etc.?) Or are they more general based on ethnicity or skin color? ... Middle-Eastern, Asian, Black, etc.?

There are scholarships for both (ex. You must be Jamaican and You must identify as African American).

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by GeorgiaGreek

Take the National Merit Scholarship. You have to score in the top 1 percent of high school seniors in your state to get the scholarship. And yet the scholarship amounts given for two of the main public institutions in Georgia are $500 and $750 a year. On the scale of total tuition and housing costs, that is NOTHING. That is books for the year, maybe not even the entire cost of them. So students who have demonstrated potential for achievement, even though they may be able to afford the cost, get rewarded very little for it.

I'm not saying that need-based scholarships aren't important or necessary, but there are very few scholarships for those who JUST earn it and don't necessarily REQUIRE it to get through school. That's doesn't seem right to me.

Since Georgia already offers a full tuition scholarship to qualified students, why would they offer National Merit money to kids who already qualify for HOPE? Other states, which don't have lottery money or merit scholarship programs, offer much better deals for those who did really well on the PSAT/NMSQT.

I am conflicted about women/minority scholarships. I went to a college that awards financial aid based solely on need. It's a numbers thing and there's nothing unfair about that. I went to a tiny high school, however, and all of the kids of color applied for certain scholarships. Despite being in the top 1% of my class (and probably the top-ranked student of color), I didn't receive any of the scholarships...the kids who did, however, didn't finish college.

Would it have been better to just give the scholarship to the person who was the most qualified academically, or the person who needed it the most on a financial level just to GO to college (and not necessarily to graduate)?

I probably would have graduated from college anyway, Ladies of Essence/American Association of Business Women/Florida Architects Assembly scholarship or no. But, would those people who ended up getting those scholarships even ATTENDED college without them?

[agzg]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

Hell, you can get a scholarship for wearing a duct tape dress/tux to the prom.

If some kid wants to show up lookin' all gray and shiny for the biggest formal event of his/her young life for a few thousand dollars, I say go for it!

God bless America.

Don't knock duct tape prom dresses - they get extremely elaborate and are really difficult to pull off. It's a good way to show creativity to a scholarship board.

Examples:

[DrPhil]

Just another person/group trying to make a statement. I liken this to things like "Affirmative Action Bake Sales" that some collegiate political groups do to make a statement.

But, when you (observe and) ignore these people/groups, their statements are less powerful and tend to go away with ease. Their white-only scholarship may or may not receive a shit load of applicants. Yay, either way.

There have been centuries of white-only scholarships that were called something other than "white-only." Some people criticized those scholarships but the structural dynamics that permitted those scholarships persisted. And those scholarships didn't go away...nor should they...but those who really were and are looking for white-only scholarships have a list to choose from and should know how to find them by now. Just don't use "white-only" as a keyword.

I must note that some private and public institutions did away with their minority-based scholarships. Even with those scholarships, it is still the case that most college students are on student loans rather than scholarships and grants; and that disproportionately impacts racial and ethnic minority students.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

Or are they more general based on ethnicity or skin color?

None of them are based on "skin color." They are based on race and ethnicity.

(Skin color is a mainstream phrase for physical racial and ethnic identifiability.)

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

None of them are based on "skin color." They are based on race and ethnicity.

(Skin color is a mainstream phrase for physical racial and ethnic identifiability.)

Just wondering if a "white" scholarship was comparable to any other

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by agzg

Don't knock duct tape prom dresses - they get extremely elaborate and are really difficult to pull off. It's a good way to show creativity to a scholarship board.

Examples:

Actually, I just went to look at the website for that scholarship after I posted, and I saw a bunch of dresses/tuxes like this.. quite impressive!

So I guess you can get a scholarship for being creative

[GeorgiaGreek]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

Since Georgia already offers a full tuition scholarship to qualified students, why would they offer National Merit money to kids who already qualify for HOPE? Other states, which don't have lottery money or merit scholarship programs, offer much better deals for those who did really well on the PSAT/NMSQT.

The money you get from National Merit is based on which school you go to, not the state you qualified from. If a NM scholar from Alabama goes to the University of Georgia, they get the same $500 as someone from Georgia. Only students from Georgia who stay in Georgia and maintain the required GPA can get the full tuition scholarship.
Also, there is a good possibility that HOPE will no longer pay the full tuition for everyone in the future, and the amount supplemented for books will drop (it's not enough for some students as it is), so scholarships like this would be even more important.

[dnall]

Just so you understand, the requirement is 1/4th Caucasian. There are a whole lot of people that could qualify for both NAACP scholarships and this one at the same time.

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by dnall

Just so you understand, the requirement is 1/4th Caucasian. There are a whole lot of people that could qualify for both NAACP scholarships and this one at the same time.

But that's not particularly relevant. It's attention grabbing, nothing more significant.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by dnall

Just so you understand, the requirement is 1/4th Caucasian. There are a whole lot of people that could qualify for both NAACP scholarships and this one at the same time.

Yes, the article states "After receiving scholarship requests from people who are of mixed race, Bohannon has qualified his requirements so that students are eligible if they're a quarter non-Hispanic white."

LOL @ both NAACP scholarships....

More importantly, Bohannon started this scholarship because non-Hispanic whites have become the minority in TX at 42% of the total population. The population minority means very little because whites are still, and probably always will be, the power majority in Texas and other states. So, a white scholarship isn't the worst idea in the world but it does make me laugh, considering the "we're a minority" angle. That doesn't even get into the fact that the white Hispanics will assimilate into "America whiteness" in about 10-20 years.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

Yes, the article states "After receiving scholarship requests from people who are of mixed race, Bohannon has qualified his requirements so that students are eligible if they're a quarter non-Hispanic white."

LOL @ both NAACP scholarships....

More importantly, Bohannon started this scholarship because non-Hispanic whites have become the minority in TX at 42% of the total population. The population minority means very little because whites are still, and probably always will be, the power majority in Texas and other states. So, a white scholarship isn't the worst idea in the world but it does make me laugh, considering the "we're a minority" angle. That doesn't even get into the fact that the white Hispanics will assimilate into "America whiteness" in about 10-20 years.

I'm laughing that he's reaching for the stars with that 3.0 gpa requirement, too!