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March 1, 2005
Wacky College Scholarships - any ZOLPS among my readership?
Some scholarships are open to all, such as one sponsored by Henkel Consumer Adhesives Inc. The company awards $5,000 to the couple who attend their school prom wearing the best outfit or accessories fashioned out of Duck brand duct tape.Others are more restrictive: Loyola University in Chicago provides full-tuition four-year scholarships to Catholics with the last name of "Zolp" on their birth and confirmation certificates.
Though some of these scholarships sound peculiar, the fact is that "they are not unusual," said Ann Wright, vice president for enrollment at Rice University in Houston. There are so many, she said, because many donors have specific ideas, relating to their own personal stories, of how they want their money spent.
"This is how we get into a bind, with very narrow geographic scholarships or with people who have specific religious backgrounds -- left-handed Lithuanians," Wright said. "That's why we do our very best to encourage people to say what they want but create some flexibility in the award."
This from a Washington Post article. I went to Rice. I benefitted from a diversity bait scholarship - I was an out of state (Rice was overwhelmingly Texan) humanities (Rice=engineering, right? Well, no, but that's one of their problems) smart (which didn't do me that much good at Rice) person. If I'd been female maybe it would have been multiyear. As is they threw out a few one-year-only-tuition scholarships as bait; my major advisor, who was a long-time faculty member of the admissions committee, told me that's how this particular scholarship worked.
Well, it worked for me. I had 4 happy years. Hanszen, '84.
Posted by CrankyProfessor at March 1, 2005 7:17 AM