Every year countless students scour the Internet for scholarships, grants and loans to help pay for a higher education. Most scholarships are based on need and/or merit and often require a minimum GPA.
While race-based scholarships still usually consider need and grades before awarding money, they only accept applicants of a minority race—be it Hispanic, black, Persian, or any other minority. There is also a good number of scholarships offered only to women.
Scholarships leave out the majority
On one hand—great! There will be more diversity on campuses and better opportunities for those who have few. But some have begun to complain, “Has this focus on helping the minorities left the majority out to dry?” Being white — especially a white man — has become a detriment to finding scholarships. Now new scholarship funds are cropping up, trying to even the playing field.
The Former Majority Association for Equality has created several scholarships, ranging from $500 to $1,000, available only to Caucasian men. Like other race-based scholarships they consider the amount of need and the merit of the applicants. The mission of FMAFE, as stated on their website, reads, “Our goal: To financially assist young Americans seeking higher education who lack opportunities in similar organizations that are based upon race or gender.”
The association “provides monetary aid to those that have found the scholarship application process difficult because they do not fit into certain categories or any ethnic group.” In essence, FMAFE says they are not claiming that Caucasians are superior to other races but they are trying to address the fact that being white is a handicap in the search for college financial aid.
Caucasian-only scholarships cause uproar
No one seems to be concerned with the fact that the scholarship is exclusive to men, but the white-only mentality of FMAFE has caused quite an uproar. This is not the first time this has happened either; anger flared when Boston University offered a scholarship specifically for white students, as reported by ABC News.
I will admit upfront, I am a white female. I feel the frustration that I am barred from scholarships for being Caucasian as I try to pay for school. I used to joke all the time with my friends about wanting a “white scholarship,” knowing that any attempt at one would be branded racist. Indeed, the actions of FMAFE have been criticized.
Scholarships should be need-based
I support FMAFE in their endeavor to allow even those born in the majority to pay for school. Being born a white male does not mean you have the money to write Biola a check for over $20,000 a year. Part of me wants to say that all scholarships should be completely merit and need-based. If one student earned a 3.0 GPA in high school and another a 4.0, give the money to the student with the higher GPA regardless of ethnicity.
Ethnicity should not determine scholarships
However, I do think it wise of universities to promote diversity. Biola has the SURGE scholarship for students that have “developed a personal understanding of their own ethnic background and have engaged in activities that promote multi-ethnic awareness, learning, and celebration.”
That’s wonderful and I hope it truly draws students from minority backgrounds to our school. I also think it is fair when a non-profit organization has dedicated itself to helping a people group, be it women, Asians, Mormons, or anyone else, and wants to offer a scholarship exclusively for these people. For example, the NAACP has many of these scholarships.
However, I do have an issue when random corporations offer scholarships based on race, or even ask a person’s race on the application. If it is not their goal to help a certain race in all that they do, then why limit their money to only one people group?
Everyone should be allowed to support a cause, so that everyone can have the opportunity to go to college. But no one, whether a minority or majority, should have to feel that their ethnicity is holding them back.
