Group Offers Scholarships for White Males

[SilverTurtle]

Originally Posted by DTD Alum

It's interesting, because although whites may be the power majority, that certainly does not mean that every white person automatically gets a seat at the power table. DrPhil mentioned that there are scholarships that exist just for white people, but they are just not advertised as such. I completely agree, however I think it should be clarified that these scholarships are more or less intended for upper class white people only. They are not beating down the doors to, or even open to, giving those scholarships to the white son of Joe the Plumber even if he looks like the poster boy for the Aryan nation. Those who are truly concerned with keeping the status quo intact are looking for much more than just race...social economic background and the right family is also a huge factor, not to mention the right religions, zip code, sexual orientation, summer camps, whatever.

When I was applying to college, my parents wanted me to take a look at scholarships. We didn't qualify for financial aid in any way, and my parents could afford to pay for it all without using student loans, but college is still expensive and they wanted to see if we could get any money. All the scholarships were either for extreme merit based reasons (which wouldn't work because I was just barely over the middle 50% for USC's stats) or racial/gender minority causes. This included several races that are also not seen as disenfranchised academically/financially in America.

A white male who was not a wealthy fourth-generation USC student truly did not have options in terms of scholarships. So I can see how a scholarship like this is necessary. It's not intended to help out young Thurston von Snobberton IV. It's probably intended to help out the white working class men who wouldn't get stared at if they ended up in the parking lot of the local country club, but who will never be granted a seat at the top of the social pecking order either.

DTD Alum

Ofte being in the middle (especially that lower middle) class is more of a hinderance when it comes to aid in general, from scholarships to WIC to whatever. I would like to see more scholarships aimed at that demographic. They are the people most likely to take out enormous student loans that they probably can't afford to pay off and often alternative options (technical schools, getting an associate degree prior to a bachelors cheaper, etc.) aren't presented as options.

[DTD Alum]

Originally Posted by SilverTurtle

DTD Alum

Ofte being in the middle (especially that lower middle) class is more of a hinderance when it comes to aid in general, from scholarships to WIC to whatever. I would like to see more scholarships aimed at that demographic. They are the people most likely to take out enormous student loans that they probably can't afford to pay off and often alternative options (technical schools, getting an associate degree prior to a bachelors cheaper, etc.) aren't presented as options.

I agree completely. My family is comfortably upper middle class, but I have cousins who are middle class and watching them jump through hoops to afford college was painful. They really didn't qualify for financial aid but at the same time could not really afford college either. Insane amounts of loans were taken out, and right now I'm watching one cousin have to take out an additional loan (and an absurdly high one at that) to go to med school, on top of the loan she had to use to go to college.

So once again I can see why an already financially strained white male could take a look at all the scholarships available and be very frustrated that he could not even qualify for any of them. While every white person in America gets some amount of white privilege, very few are entitled to all of it. Social class is a HUGE factor in who gets what privileges. Nobody is trying to help the white son of a hippie or a dock worker or a kindergarten teacher succeed either.

[BluPhire]

Originally Posted by DTD Alum

I agree completely. My family is comfortably upper middle class, but I have cousins who are middle class and watching them jump through hoops to afford college was painful. They really didn't qualify for financial aid but at the same time could not really afford college either. Insane amounts of loans were taken out, and right now I'm watching one cousin have to take out an additional loan (and an absurdly high one at that) to go to med school, on top of the loan she had to use to go to college.

So once again I can see why an already financially strained white male could take a look at all the scholarships available and be very frustrated that he could not even qualify for any of them. While every white person in America gets some amount of white privilege, very few are entitled to all of it. Social class is a HUGE factor in who gets what privileges. Nobody is trying to help the white son of a hippie or a dock worker or a kindergarten teacher succeed either.

The thing is though this can be applied to all races. Just because you are black doesn't mean you can come with any GPA and get a scholarship just because its says "Be Black", or whatever ethnic group. That's the issue I always have when people bring up buzz phrases like, "White men being the minority" or "Affirmative Action" like there is this glut of 2.0 blacks taking away opportunities from all these white males that all have 4.0's.

Which is why I don't have an issue with the scholarship itself, we need more scholarships for those of us that aren't carrying 5.0's, 4.0's or heck 3.0's when graduating from high school. Just the justification he is coming up with (Immediately pointing his finger at the minority instead of embracing some of the tenets that "some" minority scholarships do have which is not a tremendously high standard to receive the money).

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by DTD Alum

While every white person in America gets some amount of white privilege, very few are entitled to all of it. Social class is a HUGE factor in who gets what privileges. Nobody is trying to help the white son of a hippie or a dock worker or a kindergarten teacher succeed either.

You are trying to turn this into a formula or an equation and it is not.

[DTD Alum]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

You are trying to turn this into a formula or an equation and it is not.

No. I'm not. I'm simply stating my belief that I disagree with the idea that the existence of white privilege justifies the fact that, depending on the school, few if any scholarships are even available to apply to for white men. There doesn't even need to be a specific white only scholarship, but the fact is that the overwhelming majority of scholarships intended to help those who have had disenfranchised backgrounds are intended for specific minority groups (and don't confuse this with me saying these scholarships shouldn't exist, they should). If there were even some that had more open guidelines for applying I'd be fine, but in most cases there are not.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by DTD Alum

No. I'm not.

You are when you're responding to the notion of white privilege.

Originally Posted by DTD Alum

...few if any scholarships are even available to apply to for white men...the overwhelming majority of scholarships intended to help those who have had disenfranchised backgrounds are intended for specific minority groups....

Having worked in financial aid for years, I can say that this is not really true.

People simply do not research scholarship and grant options; and the options that are publicized tend to be athletic, academic, or minority-based. That is why people see student loans and going into debt to be an alternative--that's often what they have information about and almost everyone qualifies for a loan.

Anyway, this is why some financial aid departments have HUGE binders in their offices that have information about scholarships and grants. They try to give students info and tell them to research so that they don't have to only get loans. Most students, however, will only utilize the info that you force upon them. It never surprised me when we'd get a student (most students were white) who was financially struggling and complaining and then we'd say "here's some info on tons of scholarships that you can read about and see which ones you qualify for and can apply for." Guess how many students followed through...very few. There's actually a lot of scholarship and grant money out there that never gets used because people (across race, social class, gender, etc.) do not apply and the few who apply are sometimes not qualified.

/financial aid rant