i, like many of you, joined progressive U for the scholarship 'blogging for progress' and so if you joined here for the scholarship you are probably on the same scholarship search that i am.
im some what of a nerd when it comes to my scholarship organization. i have a binder and an excel chart of all the deadlines and when the scholarship opens, etc. i have over 22 scholarships to apply to i have applied currently to 5, the rest are not open or im waiting on letters of reccomendations, transcripts, fafsas, etc.
but i find that scholarships discriminate. dont get me wrong i believe that the people who really need money, have great grades, involve their entire life on scholarships and college they truly do deserve scholarships.
but what about the majorty of us who arent exacvtly 4.0 students but still have a GPA of above 3.8 have community service...but no extra curricular because in my case, i dont like high school, so i do full-time running start at a community college and work 3 jobs plus 1 internship. i think thats quite qualifying material for scholarships.
the other thing they discriminate about is money. my situation; my parents make good money. my mother is a dental assistant (assistant, not hygentis, hygentist are the ones that make the real money) but my father works for coca-cola; he is the key district manager or the west coast or something like that; he sets up the bids for sport teams and stadiums all along the west coast.
BUT, my sister is already in college going to FIDM (fashion insitute of design and merchandising) in california. its a rarely exspensive college. and i plan to go to the Art Institute of Seattle which is also pretty exspensive; when im done and graduated it will have cost 72,000 and thats not for living and books etc. just for the tuition.
some people would say "go to a cheaper college" but thats not fair that we should be denied the college of our choice. my sister chooses FIDM because it is one of the best fashions school out there, and i choose AIS for interior design because 1.) i dont want to go to a university, i like the idea of an art school, everyone around me being creative and being focused. in a univserity there are ALOT of people and alot of different kind of people. i dont want to be surrounded by law students and med students. i want to be surrounded by art. and art people. 2.) i love seattle and its only an hour away from where i live now so if i need my parents, other family and friends, they're there. 3.) it also is a very good interior design school for starters; my entire schedule will consist of interior design classes; there is a class on bathroom and kitchen designs, textiles, fabrics, and then each quarter you have ONE class that you need just to get your BA such as math, science, history, etc. so it keeps you focused. its also year round so i'll get my bachelors in 3 years, not 4. and i never liked summer breaks; they would break me up and when i came back i wouldnt remember anything. i love everything about the art institute and its not fair that i should be asked to go to a different college just because on the outside my grades arent perfect, i dont do extra curricular, and my parents make decent money.
it bugs me that my whole day is booked with work and school. and i will be overlooked for most scholarships because of the few minor details. i dont find it fair at all.
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I don't think anyone should challenge you or tell you that you shouldn't go to the college of your choice, and I agree, it is unfair to say "go to a cheaper college".
Yes, as I am thinking about it, I definitely do not believe anyone has a right to challenge you about which school and why.
The things is, though, that scholarships - ideally - go to the top competitor, however that may be. You have to write better, blog more, or have 6,000 hours more community service than the next person. It's challenging, it's complicated, and there's really not enough money to go around, but that's how it is. It sucks, I know, but it could be worse.
The only thing I can say is that sometimes, to get to a goal, the line isn't linear. Sometimes, you have to make it a little curved.
I also see what you're saying about the three jobs, one internship, full time school business. I would have to agree, there aren't many scholarships available for people with a lifestyle like that. I'm not sure if I would say it discriminates - I've had an "abnormal" college career path, but I'm still eligible for scholarships, and unfortunately, they're all pretty competitive.
I guess the only compensation people get is knowing that they did it themselves, with scholarships, without, but still somehow.
I'm somewhat in the same boat, but I'm more angry at FAFSA than anything. It's kind of odd becuase the extremely low class get FAFSA, the extremely wealthy don't need FAFSA, but what about me...I'm a member of the upper-middle class...and apparently my parents can afford up to 18000 a year for college. That's ridiculous. The middle class, who can "afford" college, really can't...but FAFSA won't give us any money becuase our income is supposedly "high"...we're neither rich nor poor...just stuck in the middle. It sucks, and I have to work even harder for scholarships.
Micah B.
I totally feel you on that. My family is the low middle class, but we are just slightly above the top bracket of poverty. Now, I eat, I have clothes and a place to sleep, so I'm not complaining about our financial income. However: I was reared knowing I was going to college, and knowing that I was going to have to do it on my own. I kid you not, from the time I was a kid in elementary school, college and endless minimum wage jobs were in my future. And I'm okay with that, but it sure would be nice if the government stepped in and actually helped. And when I say help, I mean a little over the cost of a textbook.
Ahh. I'm going through the same scholarship searches and process, loverock. I've applied to the Art Institute of Los Angeles, and its going to cost me about $79,000. Meanwhile, I'm currently a sophomore at a private, historically religious liberal arts college, and I hate it. Sure, I like the smallness of it, but my major (mass comm with concentrations in video production and audio recording technology) is slow. I feel like I'm just dragging my feet. I hate sitting in a classroom. I want to be out there DOING IT. I went to a vocational high school and DID BROADCASTING. I was working for Comcast's production staff when I first declared Broadcasting as my major in high school. The Art Institute is perfect for me who doesn't like the tradition lecture-style of degrees, and yet still wants to pursue a Bachelors. I'm paying $26,000 a year, not including books and living expenses (well, room and board is in that $26K). That runs me to $100,000 for a Bachelors, not including books, additional lab fees, and items required for my major.
And intern opportunity? In the boondocks of North Carolina? In the middle of middle class white suburbia, 30 miles east of Raleigh in the center of Nowhere? Yeah, right. Los Angeles is perfect for a unstable soul like me.
I was "lucky" enough to get $21K in financial aid, but a lot of it is state grants and a Coca Cola Scholarship for the state. Once I transfer, I'll only have my Pell grant and stafford loan if I don't get anymore scholarships. And I'm one of those people who had an EFC of 0 for 2006-2007.
Good luck on your scholarship search!
wow! you sound just like me. im going to the art institute of seattle and my dad works for coca-cola so im not eligible for the coca cola scholarship but they have a private employees only scholarship. =]
good luck as well.