P. Diddy Combs' son wins $54K college scholarship

[kathyk2]

How is Sean Combs' son earning a football scholarship any diffent from Eli and Peyton Manning getting the same opportunity? I applaud Justin Combs for not capitalizing on his father's fame to build a name for himself.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

No - parental tax return information does not determine whether or not a child is dependent or independent. Most children under the age of 24 are Dependent and must provide their parent's financial information, regardless of whether or not the child is claimed as a dependent on the tax form. It has actually been this way for decades now, but there are still many parents who believe that all they have to do is drop their 19year old off their tax returns and the child will get full financial aid.

This is directly from the Governmental website.

I guess things have changed, although it's only been a couple decades since it worked for me. BTW, that was not to suggest you'd automatically GET full financial aid, but you'd change your eligibility status. I had a full-time job when I applied for (and got) a Pell Grant, but it was not a huge sum.

 

[tlens]

I didn't realize only poor kids should get scholarships. Go figure

 

[a1tinkfans]

He earned it; good for him.

 

[Schmeck]

UCLA is indeed a public university but public universities are only partly funded by taxpayer dollars.

According to the Wall Street Journal the UCLA Football program generates annually $123million in revenue for the University. Taxpayer dollars do not fund athletic scholarships at UCLA. They are paid for from the revenues and donations that the various sports programs produce.

As for whether or not a University has any business having sports programs - well I'm glad they do but you aren't the first to suggest they shouldn't.

So, the scholarship money comes from the ticket revenue. Hmmmm. So the bigger/better your sports team, the more money you make for your college. You recruit athletes to make that money for the school. You trade them some kind of diploma (if they last that long) in exchange. I still don't like it.

 

[SydSim]

These type of scholarships have been the topic of discussion for weeks in a Financial Aid course that I'm taking right now.

There is a thought out there that colleges should try to make themselves affordable to all in some way. One way is to not offer merit based scholarships to those who can afford to pay (in essence yes, the school has a certain amount of funds to grant and if you give away funds to someone who could otherwise pay on their own, someone who couldn't pay wouldn't be able to attend, Whereas if you only award funds to those who have a financial need as well as academic merit, then the need student can attend and the full pay student can attend). Not saying that I agree with this thinking, just wanted to state what some thoughts are.

Before taking this class, I had always thought "A school with an expensive price tag doesn't need to make itself attainable to everyone. Those that can afford it will attend, those that can't will go to a school that they can afford". During this class, I have come to understand why a lot of people would think otherwise.

I have perused many college websites searching their financial aid practices for this class (and for my own DD), and I have found several schools that only offer merit scholarships to students who have a financial need. Merit scholarships without the financial need part is thought to sway a person's decisions (as in the college trying to craft a certain type of student for it's own personal gain.) One that attached a financial need to it are thought to be looking out for the best interest of students.

I seem to remember the Denzel's son case - Denzel said no and the football coach said that Morehouse wasn't offer him the scholarship, they were offering it to his son because he earned it. I thought that Denzel allowed him to accept, but also donated a considerable amount of $$$$ to the school (but I could be wrong).

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

These type of scholarships have been the topic of discussion for weeks in a Financial Aid course that I'm taking right now.

There is a thought out there that colleges should try to make themselves affordable to all in some way. One way is to not offer merit based scholarships to those who can afford to pay (in essence yes, the school has a certain amount of funds to grant and if you give away funds to someone who could otherwise pay on their own, someone who couldn't pay wouldn't be able to attend, Whereas if you only award funds to those who have a financial need as well as academic merit, then the need student can attend and the full pay student can attend). Not saying that I agree with this thinking, just wanted to state what some thoughts are.

Before taking this class, I had always thought "A school with an expensive price tag doesn't need to make itself attainable to everyone. Those that can afford it will attend, those that can't will go to a school that they can afford". During this class, I have come to understand why a lot of people would think otherwise.

I have perused many college websites searching their financial aid practices for this class (and for my own DD), and I have found several schools that only offer merit scholarships to students who have a financial need. Merit scholarships without the financial need part is thought to sway a person's decisions (as in the college trying to craft a certain type of student for it's own personal gain.) One that attached a financial need to it are thought to be looking out for the best interest of students.

I seem to remember the Denzel's son case - Denzel said no and the football coach said that Morehouse wasn't offer him the scholarship, they were offering it to his son because he earned it. I thought that Denzel allowed him to accept, but also donated a considerable amount of $$$$ to the school (but I could be wrong).

I am a big believer in need based aid over merit aid. But to me, D1 sports, particularly money sports like football and basketball.

A football player at UCLA has a JOB. They are expected to put in a certain number of hours a week, a huge number during football season, and a certain number during the rest of the year. By doing so, they help the team win games, which means they can sell more merchandise, tickets, TV contracts etc . . . They attract attention to the school which increases applicants and drives up the school's prestige and the quality of the student body. Given how time consuming and demanding the job is, and how much the school benefits, I think paying them in the form of a scholarship is reasonable.

 

[disykat]

My son's school only gives need based academic merit aide. However, it does give non-need based sports scholarships.

The kid in question would in NO way qualify for academic merit aide, (he probably wouldn't even get in without his sports ability based on his gpa) but would for a sports scholarship.

 

[donaldlovesdaisy]

I don't understand why there is any question here. I'm not a fan of Sean Combs, but if this is a Merit scholarship, his son obviously earned it, and is not obligated to turn it down based on his family's wealth.

My thoughts exactly!!

 

[OceanAnnie]

i don't understand why there is any question here. I'm not a fan of sean combs, but if this is a merit scholarship, his son obviously earned it, and is not obligated to turn it down based on his family's wealth.

+ 2

 

[Missy1961]

My son's school only gives need based academic merit aide. However, it does give non-need based sports scholarships.

The kid in question would in NO way qualify for academic merit aide, (he probably wouldn't even get in without his sports ability based on his gpa) but would for a sports scholarship.

Not true. He has a 3.75 GPA. So he could have gotten a scholarship based on his grades as well. He worked his butt off on the field and in the classroom. He did not rest on his dad's laurels. He should applauded.

 

[disykat]

Not true. He has a 3.75 GPA. So he could have gotten a scholarship based on his grades as well. He worked his butt off on the field and in the classroom. He did not rest on his dad's laurels. He should applauded.

That was my point, a 3.75 doesn't get an academic scholarship at a top school. I'm happy to applaud his football skills, and he got good grades. Obviously good enough to get into UCLA, a school with high standards. I simply don't believe this was an academic scholarship. Maybe I'm wrong and UCLA doesn't have top school standards? Either that or he had REALLY close to perfect SATs.

I just looked it up - over 35% of freshman admitted to UCLA come with an unweighted GPA of 4.0.

He got a football scholarship at a top university. People have an unrealistic view of what gets academic scholarships.