It's no secret that, for the vast majority of the world's population, let alone Americans, American colleges and universities are not at all affordable. There's financial aid, scholarships and grants, but most of the time what people get isn't enough. The class of 2012 saw 71 percent of its students graduating from four year colleges leave with student loan debt (student loan hero). Clearly, in signing up for college, many of us also sign away any monetary fortune for the foreseeable future. Despite this, tuition is still increasing, and more and more, colleges are giving money to those who don't need it.
Merit scholarships sound like a great thing. Reward someone for their hard work and success, regardless of their financial situation. But there's a catch. If you have $100,000,000,000, you could still get a merit scholarship, even though you already have all the money you could ever need to pay for school and more. Another issue with this system is that having more money can mean having access to better education. What I'm getting at here is that merit scholarships potentially reward those who don't need the money, leaving the less financially secure, but no less deserving, out to dry.
Yes, performing well in school is a great thing and this should not go unnoticed. But it never does go unnoticed. Earning a high GPA and high test scores means you'll have the option to go to better schools. It probably means that you know your stuff, as far as school is concerned. It means that parents, family, guardians, friends, teachers, coaches or whoever else you have out there are proud of you. These material and internal rewards already give you a leg up on others. We don't need to provide monetary rewards to people who have reached such heights.
The students who do need these merit scholarships may never get them. Not because they're unintelligent or unmotivated, but maybe because they don't go to a great school or have private tutors. Or maybe they fell just short of the mark, losing out on a miraculous and life-changing scholarship by a 0.05 GPA deficit. Without that kind of money, how can they hope to achieve higher education?
I benefit from merit scholarships myself and I am very grateful for the kind of aid it brings me. I was blessed to get the scholarships that I have, especially since my parents still need to get three more kids through college. But I know that some people don’t have the luck that I do. Merit scholarships can take away from the available money to give to lower income families. So instead of getting awarded real money to come to school, they get loans. And then, if they don’t qualify for loans, they get nothing; they forfeit higher education. This effect continues to emphasize financial disparities and decreases diversity among college students.
As I’ve seen through personal experience, merit scholarships can be a great way to reward hard work and help out students and families. But it can also snowball into a much larger issue, neglecting those who need to be helped. I am not suggesting we get rid of merit scholarships, but I am suggesting that we be more mindful of where they go. Students with high GPAs, scores and ranks get perks already (dean’s list, honor societies, awards, etc.). Let’s do more to award the hard-working students that don’t have a quarter of a million dollars under their belts. If they have high GPAs, all the better.
