Graphic by Lexi Marcellino

Desperate for money, discouraged by lackluster grades, and surfing the Internet for any scholarship, a young student finds herself destined to the overwhelming fate of student debt. As all hope is near lost, she finds a scholarship given to students who make a prom dress out of duct tape. Maybe she’ll knock a few hundred dollars off her tuition price, maybe even a thousand. Try $10,000.  Not only is this use of highly desired money silly, it’s unethical.

In the United States, paying for higher education has become increasingly more expensive as rates climb to a height that many students can’t afford. According to the College Board, the average public four-year tuition in 2015 has more than tripled in the last 30 years (inflation considered) to $9,139.

Balancing the system of paying for college has been a top priority for many politicians. Programs like Affirmative Action, intended to even the playing field, hope to give those with cultural disadvantages a better chance to attend college. Meanwhile, scholarships still reward students with money that is not related to their academic or athletic accomplishments. Unless you consider the Sophie Major Memorial Duck Calling Contest, which looks for the best duck call, applicable to learning in a college environment.   

The Central Arizona Tall Society offers students money simply for being tall. As long as you are a male over 6-feet-2-inches tall or a female over 5-feet-10-inches tall, you are eligible for this ridiculous scholarship. As if being tall wasn’t already a blessing, now you can get free money for it.

Not all scholarships reward random achievements; some truly want to help you succeed in college. If looking to study the pseudoscience of parapsychology, then the Eileen J. Garrett Scholarship for $3000 is willing to help students who have completed noteworthy work in the field. Parapsychology studies paranormal activities and psychic abilities. Obviously, the American workforce is in desperate need of more ghost hunters and psychics.  

From a young age, kids are taught the importance of hard work and how it will be the key to their success. If we hope to reward those who work hard, then allowing these scholarships to be given out is a major contradiction to what we believe in as a society.

To make matters worse, scholarships that do have GPA requirements often only expect a measly 2.5 GPA. As many students study late into the night, working jobs during the day, and doing everything possible to shave off anything they can from their student debts, a below average student can pay for college without even trying. It almost seems like mastering your duck call would be a better use of your time than studying.

The use of these foundations is only detrimental to having driven, scholarly students. While one student reaps the benefits of ridiculous scholarships, another student remains disheartened at the years of debt he or she has to face.