<p>Whatever…eye roll. Thank you for clarifying for me. I only have a master’s degree, so I need to have these things explained.</p>
<p>Did Austin Rivers pay any tuition at Duke? Doc Rivers makes about $7mm per year as coach of the Celtics. I don’t recall the question ever being asked. There are many examples of wealthy people receiving athletic scholarships. If they want to decline the money or offset it with donations I think that is admirable, but I find it extremely presumptuous for others to suggest they should do so. If the university awards them a scholarship it is because they want that student to attend.</p>
<p>A different angle - I wonder if UCLA football game attendance and viewing will go up because of P Diddy’s S being on the team whether he’s a star player or not by virtue of the celebrity factor (once removed)? If it does then maybe it was a good financial investment for UCLA football.</p>
<p>I don’t know how all the finances work with big college sports but I’ve read that football at these well-known schools are money-makers so this 'athlete’ship (I made that up as opposed to 'scholar’ship) might not be a hit to anyone.</p>
<p>The PAC 12 just signed a very rich TV deal and is stating a sports network. Schools are making money off it now. If people would pay to watch lectures maybe they could start the Pac 12 Academic Network. It might make a $1.</p>
<p>This should be filed under ‘Non-issue, irrelevant, etc.’</p>
<p>This is hardly the first time an athlete from an affluent or even wealthy family has won a scholarship. Bob Greise, Doug Collins, Rick Barry, Ken Norton Sr., Calvin Hill, Joe Montana, Archie Manning, Howie Long…whom are all wealthy former athletes, had sons whom received sports scholarships. Jesse Jackson is a millionaire and one of his sons won a football scholarship at UVA years ago. I recall that Rudolph Giuliani’s son was on a golf scholarship at Duke for a time. Giuliani began to make a highly lucrative living following his final term at mayor of New York. Why should the parents be made to feel ashamed or undeserving? I don’t get it.</p>
<p>Assuming the kid fairly earned the scholarship, I see no reason he shouldn’t accept it, nor do I think P Diddy or any other celebrity is “obligated” to turn the money down and / or announce that he’s starting a scholarship fund of some sort. The impact to CA taxpayers of UCLA offering athletic scholarships is the same whether they go to Joe Deserving PoorKid or RichKid. This is much ado about nothing.</p>
<p>I don’t recall hearing that Rudy Giuliani’s son or any of the others received the gift of a $300K (more than the cost of the 4 years at UCLA) Maybach for their 16th birthday. This alone makes me doubt that P-Diddy wants his son to earn his keep and learn the value of money. </p>
<p>That said, I do agree that the kid earned his scholarship but in good conscience any family that can afford to give back the cost of scholarship to those less fortunate at the same school or just accept the honor it bestows without the financial benefit should do so. It is what I would do in the same situation. </p>
<p>I see many dance and music (and likely sports) families who spend exorbitant amounts throughout the teen years on coaching, competition fees, even arts boarding schools which eclipse the costs of some colleges. Then come time for college they balk at not receiving full or almost full scholarships (which are pretty much equivalent to what they have been spending all along anyway). I feel like if you have been putting out $25K (or much more) per year anyway before college and could obviously afford that then why should you expect or even in good conscience want a free ride at that point?</p>
<p>You win the lottery. A D1 athlete earns his scholie.</p>
<p>There is no “good conscience” about diddy’s athletic award. It is not financial aid. It is a merit scholarship.</p>
<p>How many posts are there on this forum each year about families that earn “too much” to qualify for financial aid and are steered by so many posters here (for years!) to schools that offer merit awards. </p>
<p>There are individual threads and stickys just for this situation. Parent(s) make too much and would like not to pay full price.</p>
<p>Since when do we distinguish how much is too much? or from the family where one parent refuses to pay? Why does the “why” they want a merit award make any difference? Why is it our business and who are we to judge?</p>
<p>UCLA’s football makes money for its program and probably carries their other athletic programs as well. Having P Diddy as a football parent makes tons of sense to me. They tend to participate and contribute beyond just financially. The dad has friends, family who will all want to participate and that in itself will help their program.</p>
<p>Meg Whitman’s son attended p’ton and while there her donation of $80 million built the new Whitman college. And she paid nor more than the $33K in tuition, should she have paid more since she could?</p>
<p>This is a case of envy and it’s just ugly.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>I have heard stories in the past where people with money have said, “This is my money, my children have no money”… </p>
<p>From what I know of Puffy, he is a self made man… literally doing grunt work in the early days, way back in the early 90’s…to jumpstart his career.</p>
<p>Has it occurred to anyone that he has told his son that he too has to make his own way in life? Maybe his son can’t count on daddy’s money to fund his tuition…</p>
<p>^^^ yes, perhaps Diddy told him he needs to make his own way,lol^^^ not to diificult when you can sell your Maybach for 300k</p>
<p>This makes a lot more sense to me than UCLA giving FA to illegal immigrants.</p>
<p>Imo, any student receiving a “free” education via scholarship, financial or otherwise, ought to pay it back one way or another. Scholarship players in revenue sports are paying it back contemporaneously.</p>
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<p>They do…in the form of greater societal contributions, paying taxes from higher paying jobs, and possible philanthropy that comes from having an education a college education provides than they would have without it. And I mean more than in a merely vocational sense. The mere fact this is even a question is, to be quite frank, absurd…</p>
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<p>Those are the same things a full-pay graduate contributes.</p>
<p>The UCs have a lower than average alumni giving rate. Imo, scholarship recipients have a special duty to pay it forward.</p>
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<p>Not necessarily. Full-pay graduates have had the advantages of upper/upper-middle class upbringing, socialization, and familial/neighborly connections which makes obtaining such jobs much easier than for a working-class/lower-middle class kid with little/none of those…especially if they are immigrants/children of immigrants. </p>
<p>Many previous CC commenters had links to such studies confirming this and I’ve observed the same in my own HS/college classmates as well as within my own extended family. </p>
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<p>So…students from lower socio-economic standards and/or those who demonstrated greater academic/other capabilities than more average admits should be held to a higher standard than full-pay kids?? Even if they had poor experiences at such places due to the stigma of their origins or other factors?</p>
<p>I’m not so sure about that…especially considering nearly all the self-made well-off full-pay parents I know would take serious issue with allowing their own kids who grew up in such fortunate socio-economic circumstances to be let off so easily.</p>
<p>His son earned it and he deserves the right to accept it. It’s time for people to stop being so bitter about the success of others.</p>
<p>Sure, his father can pay for his tuition in full. However, this isn’t about his father and that’s what people need to realize. He earned the scholar athlete award on his OWN merit. Not every celebrity’s child wants to sponge off their parents. Sometimes, yes that’s right—sometimes, they want to pave their own way in life.</p>
<p>[Diddy’s</a> Son Headed To UCLA On Football Scholarship - Yahoo! News](<a href=“http://news.yahoo.com/diddys-son-headed-ucla-football-scholarship-161935300.html]Diddy’s”>http://news.yahoo.com/diddys-son-headed-ucla-football-scholarship-161935300.html)</p>
<p>Justin, a 5’9", 170 pound defensive back, had his choice of big time college programs to choose from - in addition to UCLA, he was also offered scholarships by the University of Illinois, the University of Virginia and the University of Wyoming.</p>
<p>The teen also boasted a 3.75 GPA in high school as a student at Iona Prep in New Rochelle, New York.</p>
<p>I agree that he earned the athletic scholarship, so he can and should accept it. </p>
<p>OTOH, when I read the story I am reminded by a Cal-Berkeley b’ball recruit who turned down the money. His dad, a former NBA player, took the high road and said that the college should give the money to someone ‘who needs it’. Thus, dad insisted on being full pay, at OOS rates (I believe). Technically, his son became a ‘walk-on’. hahahaha</p>
<p>Think of all the good pub that P-Diddy would receive by turning down the scholly; way more value in the PR than the cost of tuition. His PR firm missed a huge opportunity.</p>
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<p>I agree with you, Kat.</p>
<p>Perhaps all awards base solely on merit should be eliminated. My guess is that there would be some outcry about that, including by those who are objecting to this young man’s scholarship.</p>
<p>Daddy Diddy may very well come through with a monstrous donation. I don’t think we should judge him on that score yet. It may be that the family wants people to know that Justin earned the scholarship out of his own hard work first.</p>
<p>And p.s. to cobrat: I don’t care what your background is; if you get a free ride to an elite public u, you should pay it back one way or another.</p>
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<p>If UCLA is like Berkeley, it is likely that football makes a profit, but NCAA sports as a whole loses money (with football profits partially paying for the other sports).</p>