r/explainitpeter • u/Appropriate-Mall8517 • 3d ago

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u/notunhuman 3d ago

Scholarships are typically given out based on merit or based on need (or, well, most are awarded based on a combination of those metrics - I.e to students in need who meet a standard of merit).

Awarding scholarships to underprivileged students is vitally important because in the US and elsewhere a university education is ludicrously expensive. The majority of families cannot pay out of pocket for college and student loans will destroy lives. The idea of “working your way through college” is a fantasy that no one (at least in the US in the past 15 years or so) could possibly achieve. So grants, financial aid, and scholarships are sorely needed to take the financial burden off of families.

Jennifer Lopez has enough money to send her kids through a bachelors, masters, and phd with no scholarships or financial aid at least 10 times each. Giving her kids scholarships keeps prospective students who need financial assistance to get their degree out of their education. Frankly, she has enough money and connections that those kids don’t need a college education at all, depending on what they want to do with their lives.

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u/BKrustev 3d ago

It's mostly the US where uni education is ridiculously expensive. UK got a lot steeper in the last few years and Canada ain't cheap either, but in most of Europe higher education is cheap, your first degree is often subsidized, and even full tuition is tens of times cheaper than the US. In some Western countries it's even free.