Scholarships for College students are crucial in a potential students decision to attend a college. Students have their fingers crossed whenever that award letter comes in the mail telling them how much their school is willing to invest in them. Lucky students that get large amount scholarships or full rides don’t have much else to worry about. It’s the students that receive small partial scholarships that have the worrying to do. If some are lucky, they get pell grants in addition with their scholarships. With a partial scholarship and pell grant money, some students still find it difficult to afford college.
A scholarship can cover a few classes for the student, but not their housing, books, or food expenses which can inflate the cost of attending college. Scholarships can make or break the choice of attending particular schools. Some students may have selected a prestigious school with multiple benefits other than it’s professors. The school may be in the Ivy league of colleges and have some of the best programs offered. However if someone applies to that school with high hopes and does get accepted their dream is only half realized. If the school fails to supply the student with the advantage of a scholarship they are left to cover the expenses on their own through exorbitant loans if they decide to pursue that college. In most cases the final factor is based upon the most affordable college which may not be the dream college the student origonally set out to attend. Scholarships for college students appear to be shrinking over the years with the budget tightening on colleges in this tough economy.
Schools are hesitant to distribute large advances of money for fear the students may be unreliable or drop out leaving their investment in that student ruined. Current colleges are interested in prospective students, not semi prospective students, which causes a tighter hold on the funds they would have distributed to hopeful applicants to the schools. Scholarships for college students that are advanced in their years at an institution are rarely increased, leaving the student left to take out more loans as the tuition for the school continues to rise. It would be beneficial to both the school and the student if the school continued to pledge equal the amount of funding with the increase in tuition rates to assure the continued attendance of scholarship recipients. College and institutions of higher education should be urged to disperse more financial aid to those applying and those currently attending in order to produce more aware and intelligent members of society. The last thing that should be compromised in a society is education because from education come brilliant ideas which reform society and make it a better place to live for everyone. If education is compromised due to the rising costs of tuition and the lowering of financial aid the future is a bleak one at best. Of all things to cut from a college’s budget, don’t allow it to be scholarships for college students.