Financial Aid = discrimination?

stargazerlilies
Thu, 30 Apr 2009 01:01:13 +0000

People aren’t poor by choice, often they’re born poor. My dad was pretty much a rags-to-riches American Dream story: grandparents moved here as immigrants from 3rd world, dad worked 2 jobs in HS while getting A’s and acing his SAT’s, got into Dartmouth which has great FA, got a job in college to pay off loans while working his ass off to graduate in 3 years, made a ton of money and lives comfortably in upper middle class suburbia. I had it so easy growing up, now I go to a pricy college where my parents pay a lot for tuition, but I understand why it’s fair. I could have gone to State U if I wanted to. If my dad didn’t have FA, he would probably still be poor.

People can’t help if they’re poor, but FA gives them a chance to get out of poverty. And don’t say, well, they can work throughout HS and pay for a cheap college themselves, some teens pay for their families food/bills with their salaries. FA gives hard-working students a chance to rise above the conditions they were born in. Even then it’s hard cause they go to crappy HS’s and can’t afford to spend all their time in EC’s/Volunteering/Varsity sports and whatnot.