<p>First of all let’s make it very clear that, yes, there are scholarships for URMs. So before anyone gets so huffy about this, it is absolutely true, that just being black or belonging to any niche for which there are awards, does make a person eligible for those awards that are not open to those who are not. </p>
<p>So yes, AAs have access to some scholarships, specific to AAs that non AAs do not have. I would be very interested in knowing where there is a huge stream of these awards, however, just waiting for any black mouth open to have the manna flow in there. Because, THAT I have not seen. </p>
<p>I am concerned about redundant awards that the institutions are taking greedily to mouth. Oh, how they so love that goverment teat. That’s who’s sucking down the money, not any specific ethnic group or economic category. Sheesh.</p>
<p>I don’t think anyone argues that there are more scholarship opportunities for minorities as there are not too many “whites only” scholarships (though there are many by default… but that’s another story).
However, that’s no where in the same realm as “blacks always get their education paid for 'cuz they’re black” (paraphrasing)</p>
<p>There are all sorts of scholarships not available to others-there’s one for left-handed people only, one for redheads. Many for people of certain religions. There are ones only for certain majors, for kids with parents in certain unions, and so on. Just as there are for minority students. I’ve seen many posts on CC about black student just rolling in money thrown at them that it gets old pretty fast.</p>
<p>@seamom My family is multiracial and we’ve only had positive reactions here, most don’t blink an eye. Your D will be fine. I don’t know the kids your D works with, although I must say if everyone is saying this is not a problem in their area, that’s really encouraging. I just know the kids I work with, and the broken school system in my area, and am basing on my opinions purely on my own experiences. In my area, because the situation is so bad, there are many, many generous sponsors who offer scholarships to African Americans and are more than willing to sponsor them if they want to learn. It was narrow minded of me to assume that that happens everywhere. </p>
<p>This will be my last response, as I am sure this thread will probably be closed…@southerncharm95, I am quite comfortable in the assumptions I made based on your post. You tell me not to make assumptions, yet your rant implied Tennessee designed this entire program for lower income Blacks, as if no white or other ethnicity would benefit. I would be more sympathetic to your post if you had just ranted about Tennessee changing the program, and poor students not pulling their weight, or taking advantage of the program. However, you singled out Black students, hence the problem. </p>
<p>I’m still stuck on the concept that “free money” or “sucking on the government teat” could get people to go to school who really don’t want to. Are people implying that lazy, no-ambition teens will jump up and start going to college just because it’s free and they have a “taker” mentality? I don’t see how encouraging more education, even of the 2 year vocational kind, can be a bad thing for a state. </p>
<p>I don’t know of any scholarships that are not contingent on maintaining some level of enrollment and grades. I may be wrong but I am assuming that a scholarship to a CC is contingent on meeting some sort of entry requirements, attending class, and making passing grades. In this case, it would be awarded to students who have accomplished what they need to move on to CC, or are motivated to enroll in a GED or remedial program. It could be a reward or incentive to complete high school in good standing. </p>
<p>There is the potential for students to enroll, not show up, or do the work, but surely there will have to be some way to monitor this and not extend it indefinitely to anyone who is not complying with the requirements. </p>
<p>I imagine that TN will be monitoring the impact of this initiative closely. </p>
Are there no low-income Whites, Latinos, etc. in Tennessee? If you didn’t want to be perceived as being racist, then maybe race should not have been brought onto the discussion.</p>
<p>I like Georgia’s Hope scholarship better. You have up to 7 years to finish, you do not need to maintain continuous enrollment and you can take a few classes at a time as you want.</p>
<p>Tennessee Hope rules seem a little wacky:</p>
<p>"All award recipients must maintain continuous enrollment at an eligible postsecondary institution. Taking a semester off without a documented medical or personal reason may cause you to permanently lose your HOPE Scholarship eligibility. This means that students must be enrolled at least part time for the fall and spring semesters to continue to receive the award. Enrollment in the summer semester is not required. Students enrolled in less than six (6) credit hours will maintain continuous enrollment but do not qualify for an award. "</p>
<p>If their goal is to educate, why are they penalizing students who take a semester off?</p>
<p>Wow. I just read through this thread and am shocked with the “concerns” that have popped up from Hope. Just…wow.</p>
<p>My thoughts on this statewide opportunity is that it provides those who do not have the means to fund a college education the chance to go to college. </p>
<p>
Not everything can be free. I think it’s perfectly fine to require continuous enrollment. All the scholarships I have require continuous enrollment. </p>
<p>@sseamom Ok. Everybody keeps saying there’s a left-handed scholarship. Where is this scholarship? Has my opportunity to claim it already passed???</p>
<p>@Pennylane2011 Thank you for being a voice of reason on this thread. If they have a minimum GPA that a student must maintain to continue to receive free tuition, I would be fine with that. I think that’s perfectly fair, I hope that is included in their plans.</p>
<p>Hm, I wonder if they’ll be able to recruit those 5,000 volunteers. Perhaps they should consider modeling it after like America Reads/America Counts where it’s work study students (I <em>believe</em> my WS was 100% of my paycheck when I worked for them).</p>
<p>I’m glad to see they included mentoring, but also wonder how they will attain that number of volunteers. I think this is a good initiative, and it will likely have some growth challenges along the way as all changes do. It seems like they are planning for them. </p>
<p>^ That’s really stupid. I guarantee I bought more than that when I was really sick from pretty much January to March straight and Sudafed was the only thing that allowed me to breath. </p>
<p>Not everyone can afford to go to doctors just to get a prescription. </p>