Justin Combs worked hard in high school to improve his football game and earn a 3.75 GPA . He recently received a $54,000 merit-based scholarship to UCLA, where he’ll play football.
In April, Forbes named Justin Combs’ dad, Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, the wealthiest artist in hip-hop. Some say the family should return Justin’s scholarship, arguing that Combs should pay for his son’s education and taxpayer money should go to students with greater financial need. Other say Justin Combs earned the scholarship through his grades and athletic ability, and deserves to keep it.
What do you think? Should the Combs family keep, return or donate the money? Should students with wealthy parents have access to merit-based scholarships and financial aid? via @CNN_Blogs
As someone who grew up in an affluent area (then worked in a far more impoverished one), I'm the first to say "tax the wealthy!"
That said, this feels wrong. I'm concerned this set some kinds of precedent about how we treat people based on class and parentage. That kind of biased can end up going both ways. Plenty of affluent kids get scholarships every day, and this kid is only getting singled out because of who his dad is, something he had no choice in. I understand the other sides argument-- PLENTY of kids need that money more, and in a singular circumstance, I hope he or the family CHOOSES to donate that money somehow. However, FORCING him to do so seems biased in some way as well.
EDIT: My friend Dan brought a great point to me:
While emotionally one might think that the child of wealthy parents should not be able to get a scholarship, what do you do in a case where the child is receiving no financial help from his parents? Like a situation of "18 and you're out the door."
Exactly. A decision based solely on the financial facts completely ignores cultural and personal context. For all we know, Sean Combs (or any wealthy parent) has set up some plan where he's forcing his son to be financially independent at a certain age. Doing this in some ways denies them the personal right to make decisions likes that.
