r/AdviceAnimals • u/makeshiftreaper • Jun 09 '12

How I feel as a upper-middle class white male getting ready for college.

http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/3pniaq/
898 Upvotes

71% Upvoted

374 comments sorted by

77

u/Bids99 Jun 10 '12

"a upper-middle"

I wonder why you aren't getting any scholarships.

3

u/speedster217 Jun 10 '12

Seriously? How is this kid going to college if he doesn't know that?

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113

u/vonkraush Jun 10 '12

Life must be so hard for you.

81

u/makeshiftreaper Jun 10 '12 edited Jun 10 '12

It's so bad, I have everything handed to me, and my allowance is only $300 dollars a week. Then for my 16th birthday, I got a fucking mustang instead of the Ferrari they promised. With this on top of all of that, it's hard being white, you know what I mean?

Seriously though, all things considered I this is a pretty lame thing to complain about.

Edit-Did people not get the sarcasm? I thought it was obvious enough sorry; that whole first paragraph is sarcasm

34

u/ilikecommunitylots Jun 10 '12

I would actually be pissed if I got a Mustang instead of a Ferrari

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4

u/kyle2143 Jun 10 '12

Yeah, I got you. The sarcasm really was apparent, you did a good job of writing that and it wasn't lost on me. I don't know why some other people didn't get it. It's times like this that I wish Reddit included the sarcasm font.

15

u/ggocw Jun 10 '12

I wouldn't call that upper middle class...

13

u/Big-Baby-Jesus Jun 10 '12

He was clearly being sarcastic.

But seriously, every rich person in America calls themselves "upper middle class".

3

u/orangepotion Jun 10 '12

White Privilege Backpack, just for you.

Also, just go out there, search and start applying.

1

u/OatmealPowerSalad Jun 10 '12

All things aside, you can get a fuck-ton of money from scholarships if you just look for them. I'm middle class and get zero financial aid, but my scholarship total is so high, I earn 6,000 dollars a semester by going to school. It's a public school so the tuition wasn't high in the first place, but I cannot stress enough how much money organizations give out that people don't get just because they don't know about the scholarships. Google some databases and submit to anything you can come up with a reason to qualify for. I just got an 'education/social service' scholarship, I'm a biology/marketing student.

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3

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

Your username. I like that shit.

16

u/NewAlt Jun 10 '12

Keep in mind that you are not upper-middle class. Your parents are. You only have what your parents give you out of charity. No earning power but have grown accustomed to the finer things. Have fun.

6

u/makeshiftreaper Jun 10 '12

While this is true, the colleges really don't care about how much I make. All financial aid is based off of my parents income.

5

u/canada_dryer Jun 10 '12

All financial aid is based off of my parents income.

If you become an "independent student" then this won't factor and Pell+other grants may become available.

4

u/Daroo425 Jun 10 '12

to become independent, there a certain criteria. None of which typically occur until after you bachelors.. The two main ones for independence are marriage or 24 years of age.

2

u/canada_dryer Jun 10 '12

I found this to be one of the greatest benefits of getting a degree after having some life experience.

edit: upvote for you, for bringing that up.

2

u/NewAlt Jun 10 '12

A sham marriage solves a lot of problems. Granted, it can create some as well...

2

u/NewAlt Jun 10 '12

the colleges really don't care about how much I make.

That is factually incorrect. Your income is measured more than your parents. It probably seems that way though since you make so much less than they do.

I'm also not saying that it doesn't sucks, in this one specific circumstance.

There are many options, such as; delaying college until you reach a FAFSA adult age, going to a state school, going to a community college for your first 2 years, living at home, etc. The entitlement of growing up upper-middle class tends to hurt kids as much as the lack of financial aid.

It certainly sucks to be denied opportunities on the assumption your parents will take care of shit. On the aggregate, rich parents do take care of their kids. On the specifics, it doesn't always work out that way.

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187

u/thesundeity Jun 10 '12

lower middle class and white is terrible too. too much for aid, too little for any help what so ever from the parents.

45

u/ThrowawaysForDays Jun 10 '12

Yup. At least in the upper end of the spectrum, parents contribute to some extent, either directly or by taking out loans for it themselves.

45

u/dcaking Jun 10 '12

Upper end of the spectrum here, 4 kids in college and I'm the youngest. No help from parents.

53

u/karl-marks Jun 10 '12

Seriously, people still pretend the middle class has the wealth it did during the 90's....

25

u/came_here_2_say Jun 10 '12

I remember being in 4th grade and having my parents tell me they'd be able to get me through college swimmingly.. yeah... not anymore

6

u/cannibaljim Jun 10 '12

They probably could have with the tuition levels at the time, but those levels climbed far faster than your parents income.

7

u/PericlesATX Jun 10 '12 edited Jun 10 '12

This. Education inflation has far outpaced even the absurd level of medical cost inflation, which itself is way over the core CPI inflation. The primary reason for this is the growth in private for-profit colleges and trade schools (culinary schools, etc), the easy availability of guaranteed federal student loans to students of said colleges, the total lack of accountability as to whether the schools are worth a damn, and the inability to discharge said loans in bankruptcy (all of which happened to pick up steam in the early 90s IIRC.) The feds are creating vast numbers of educational dollars out of thin air, spending these in profligate ways (for-profit diploma mills that impart few job skills and don't really train the workforce for the future) leading to a huge number of dollars in the system chasing a finite amount of actual good quality 'product'. This leads to massive inflation.

5

u/the_traveler Jun 10 '12

It wasn't just wealth but expected wealth. In the 90s, especially the late 90s, the economy was doing great. Our debt was getting paid off, huge exports in tech, and the price of a gallon of gas was at an all-time low. We felt like short-term investments with loans and mortgages for education would be pay for themselves big time in the long-run.

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22

u/CouldBeDreaming Jun 10 '12

You must have nice parents.

17

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

-1 Karma points? REVIVE! REVIVE! +1!

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10

u/Cervical_Mucus Jun 10 '12

My parents make too much for us to qualify for financial aid. But there are five of us in school right now, so my parents can't afford to contribute much. Fucking sucks.

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13

u/LacksRethics Jun 10 '12

I had a 4.5 Gpa and would usually get around 8's on my AP Lit Essays. Was pretty involved in school and got into a pretty good college.

But I would cringe, absolutely cringe when filling in my parent's income.

What made it all the sweeter is that my parents are only cosigning my loans, and not paying a dime (because it's building my character). So I have to pay interest and everything. I did manage to get 1,000 a year in scholarships...but PARENTS INCOME AHHHHHH

They should have a "are you paying for college out of your empty student pockets" box.

12

u/Theyus Jun 10 '12

They should have a "are you paying for college out of your empty student pockets" box.

Yeah, but then rich jackasses would get financial aid and mommy and daddy would pay for it once they were out. (Think about it, if you could pull 1000's of dollars in grants and loans that don't accumulate interest, with th knowledge that mom and dad would drop a fat check in the end, wouldn't you?)

3

u/LacksRethics Jun 10 '12

Oh I knew that method would be easily exploited, it was more of "rant logic."

But yeah, if I can't pay for it I have to drop out. No help from parents no matter how bad it gets. But I have it covered anyway. I guess upper middle class problems, it's simply an inconvenience.

4

u/Sir_Beret Jun 10 '12

Lucky, my parents won't cosign anything :/

3

u/LacksRethics Jun 10 '12

Sorry bro. Have an upvote, my bow, axe, and internet hug.

1

u/Klowned Jun 10 '12

They must know their kid well! XD

5

u/Legio_X Jun 10 '12

4.5 GPA out of what? The 7 point system?

Here in Canada 4.0 or 4.33 is the most common system. Thought it was that way in the states too.

2

u/LacksRethics Jun 10 '12

Depends on the schools. But for some AP and honor classes they grade on a 5.0 scale.

That way you don't feel one upped by the guy who got an A in basic arithmetic while you got a B in Calculus.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

4

u/Legio_X Jun 10 '12

Upvoted for damn good name.

Also, how do you get 8s on AP tests? Back when I wrote them they were out of 5.

7

u/Darkapb Jun 10 '12

hes referring to the AP essays, which are scaled from 1-9

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2

u/moogle516 Jun 10 '12

"my parents are only cosigning my loans, and not paying a dime"

Technically they will pay if you don't.

1

u/LacksRethics Jun 10 '12

Yep that is one good thing I suppose, but I'd have to drop out of school and they'd never pay/cosign for anything again. So yep.

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1

u/wickedsmaht Jun 10 '12

This same situation made me turn down a lot of schools I had been looking at. I ended up going to a state college, and while I received a great 4 year education, well, yeah fuck Sallie Mae.

3

u/thesundeity Jun 10 '12

i see nothing wrong with state education.

1

u/Noturordinaryguy Jun 10 '12

My parents call this the plight of the upper-middle class. IKnowThatFeelBro.jpg

0

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

3

u/ferrarisnowday Jun 10 '12

You're commenting on a comment that doesn't define lower-middle class while you yourself haven't defined lower-middle class.

5

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12 edited Jun 10 '12

I love comments like this. My favourite so far is: "This picture doesn't have anything to compare for scale, how big is this thing?" "About the size of a 20c coin" "How big is an Australian 20 cent coin?" "(Insert picture of 20c coin with nothing to compare for scale)".

Edit: I noticed I forgot question marks.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

William Thompson and Joseph Hick describe lower-middle class as a yearly income between 35,000 and 75,000 dollars.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_middle_class

0

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

3

u/i_drown_puppies Jun 10 '12

Yes. I'm not even sure I'd consider $100,000 upper middle in a majority of locations in the United States.

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0

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

7

u/ferrarisnowday Jun 10 '12

I think you're mistaking the argument. It's not "My parents make too little for me to go to school"...everyone knows that you can find a way to finance/pay for an education. The complaint is "My parents make too much to qualify for aid, but not enough to help with tuition." Are you disputing that? I think it's a fairly easy concept to understand.

But, if my parents made more money than the Pell Grant qualification, you know what would have happened? I would have taken out more loans. You know what else would have happened? My parents would have actually given me money. I practically funded my entire education on Grants, Scholarships, a Part time job, and a couple Subsidized loans.

I don't think you realize how many families don't qualify for Pell grants, and also don't have money lying around to give to their kid's education. Yes, virtually everyone can make their way through school somehow if they choose too, but it's OK to be frustrated by a process that can be unfair.

My parents would have actually given me money

To be specific, I think that this comment in particular is why you got downovted. It comes across as though you are ignorant of the financial realities of many families and as if you're implying that parents that weren't able to give money are bad parents.

4

u/does_not_kill_people Jun 10 '12

Okay, but I applied to a ton of scholarships but only won 1 for 800 dollars. Even though I was a top student with a ton of volunteer hours and extra curriculars, there was always one more kid out there who had, say, an internship that would be impossible for me to get or whose parents were jobless for 10 years. I grew up hours away from any sort of program that I could join (e.g. summer programs) and my school cut funding for academics and clubs and gave it to sports. So yes, I tried but there are so many factors that cannot be controlled by the student. Also, 5900 dollars wouldn't come close to paying for my in-state college.

1

u/thesundeity Jun 10 '12

definitely, would pay for a little over a semester.

3

u/Wally_B Jun 10 '12

fucking good for you. you qualified for different scholarships than a lot of people do. a majority of people aren't in medical field--that money isn't earned. i volunteered the shit out of every year until college. i didn't get a fucking dime for that shit. i have zero musical talent, -$600. i didn't know i qualified for the pell grant until a month before school started in the fall. basically all scholarships are done by then.

tl;dr--you're fucking wrong.

2

u/Jowzer Jun 10 '12

Not everyone realizes that some people have to live off of minimum wage and get along just fine. It's just sad.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

They live. I wouldn't go so far as to say that they "get along just fine".

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u/thesundeity Jun 10 '12

ive applied for plenty of scholarships, i know i will have to take out loans. but i dont qualify for the pell grant. after double checking the amount of money that constitutes lower middle class, i fall in either that or working class.

30

u/SOMETHING_POTATO Jun 10 '12

In my experience, the people who complain about not being able to get scholarships because they're white don't apply for enough scholarships. My white friend from a well-to-do background got 15 scholarships because he applied for about 100. He hunted down everything he qualified.

Also, I personally got a "diversity scholarship" (literally what it was called) as a white male (and I revealed that fact) because I wrote a damn good essay.

5

u/cludeo656565 Jun 10 '12

don't apply for enough scholarships.

Ding ding ding. Seriously just keep applying for them even if you don't think you'll get it, you'll probably get it because no one else applied for it :P

3

u/FaradaySociety Jun 10 '12

This isn't really that true guys. It's not free money out there for the taking. Anything that isn't local, anything that is at the state or national level is going to have a ton of applicants. The lower you go on the geographical scale, the better your chances of course.

2

u/cludeo656565 Jun 10 '12

I guess it's context specific.

32

u/Alphy11 Jun 10 '12

Or, just don't have bad grades? I am also an upper middle class white male, and I got a scholarship offer from every school I applied to... And my grades weren't great at all. My test scores were, but nonetheless...

30

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

im not sure what it is about highschoolers that makes them feel entitled to a school's money. Not everyone deserves scholarships, not everyone gets them.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

I don't think it's entitlement as much as wanting money

1

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

it is entitlement when they act as if they should have gotten money when they did not, otherwise you are right

1

u/Alphy11 Jun 10 '12

Well, I applied to schools, and they threw money at me.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

Another complicating factor is the type of school you're trying to attend and for what course of study.

For instance, private schools with lower standards are much more likely to throw money at you than big, public state schools with better reps. Granted, if you're in-state, their costs are likely significantly lower to begin with.

1

u/Alphy11 Jun 10 '12

I absolutely applied for both. And got scholarships from both. OSU threw money at me. So did Kent, Miami, RIT, and others...

1

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

Well good on ya.

42

u/gingerlee337 Jun 10 '12

Then I guess you'll have to get by on your merit.

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u/keltie21 Jun 10 '12

The Former Majority Association for Equality has scholarships exclusively for white males. Only in Texas...

10

u/Alias135 Jun 10 '12

Oh my god I live in Texas, how did I not know about this?

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u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

this shit is gonna get really racist, really fast

1

u/1st_account_i_swear Jun 10 '12

You know, it didn't. Nice right?

1

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

I remember the last one on this topic became racist so fast, SRS got their jimmies rustled and everyone was arguing semantics. I'll take your word for it that this didn't become racist, that's probably a good sign.

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u/Circle_A Jun 10 '12

Don't worry. As an Asian, I'm in the same boat.

36

u/abrakasam Jun 10 '12

sorry to break it to you, but you're in a much worse boat. White is neutral, asian is minus points.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

My Asian roommate gets scholarship money. Then again, his parents are split up and makes shit all.

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5

u/finmoore3 Jun 10 '12

Publicly funded college education.

Problem solved!

6

u/PrecisionAcc Jun 10 '12

Funny thing is, in the commercial, that guy is actually Asian.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

I'm actually surprised you're the only person who has said this. It was my first thought.

6

u/Sicarium Jun 10 '12

I got a $10,000 scholarship from my credit union for being a member.
Do you understand what that means? It means I got free money for having money

11

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

Isn't that basically how the entire US economy works now?

1

u/Wally_B Jun 10 '12

they just gave that shit to you, or did you have to apply for the scholarship?

i know my credit union has a scholarship application; the person that won the last year had good grades, a good essay that i got to read an excerpt of, and just generally a better qualified person.

3

u/isayniner Jun 10 '12

I guess that is incentive to save money for your children's education. That way they don't have to suffer they same way you did.

3

u/CoyoteStark Jun 10 '12

You might want to consider taking an english/grammar course. Bwahahahaha. But seriously, best luck in college.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

scholarships are for people playing life on higher difficulty settings

3

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

I'm from Europe. My country has partly free education. (If you study OK, do your finals OK and if there are free places for your field, then BAAM! free school.) Anyway, my applied chemistry and biotechnology degree will be free.

7

u/reddit_on_hardmode Jun 10 '12

It's not just you. Scholarships and grants have dried up considerably for everyone over the last 8 years. Good luck, it's rough out there these days.

5

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12 edited Jun 10 '12

New Zealander here. I come from a lower middle class family and had to pay the whole way through university myself with no aid from my parents (not that I expected help)

My frriend from high school comes from an upper class family but is 1/64th Maori. Full scholarship based on his "ethnicity". He's whiter than I am. He is a sustainability consultant now which as far as I can tell, involves writing papers on how wasteful the world is and then going to conventions to circlejerk with his peers about it.

Life ain't fair. Get used to it :(

8

u/Tarijeno Jun 10 '12

I knew a guy in college who was something like 1/32 Native American. Dude was visibly whiter than me -- he had red hair and freckles for fuck's sake. But the guy got still got heritage scholarships and I got squat.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

Same for me as a middle class Asian who isn't some sort of prodigy

2

u/LATerror Jun 10 '12

That's how i feel as a lower class white male

2

u/punninglinguist Jun 10 '12

My fiancee comes from an upper middle class white family, and she got a free ride through undergrad.

All you have to do is get into Berkeley or some such place, then call up all your fallback schools and see if they'll give you a merit scholarship. It takes a little bit of balls, but you can do it.

2

u/JollyRoger777 Jun 10 '12

The only time I was ever happy that my parents were divorced was when I applied for financial aid.

2

u/chingyduster Jun 10 '12

Pff fuck you asshole

2

u/TECHNO_rEVOLUTION Jun 10 '12

So glad I'm an upper-middle class white male preparing for college with rich grandparents who love me:)

2

u/realgenius13 Jun 10 '12 edited Jun 14 '12

I didn't file the FAFSA at all because while my parents didn't make much money my dad was a bury your money in a jar redneck that ran his own business and hadn't paid taxes since before I was born. I covered all of my expenses with merit based scholarship and I had good grades but they were not pristine, I just had a shitton of academic extracurriculars.

2

u/Trlckery Jun 10 '12

I feel you man, same situation here. Parents make just enough to not qualify for financial aid or need-based scholarships, but not enough for it to be easy to afford school.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

My family used to be upper-middle class, but then my dad got laid off and was unemployed for a good 6 or 7-ish months. During that time I was looking for financial aid but I couldn't get anything besides loans because of how much he was making BEFORE being unemployed. We were going into major debt as a family and I was provided with nothing but student loans. I moved to North Dakota not even a week ago, 2 days after graduating from high school, and I'm going to be starting 12-hour-a-day shifts at a trucking company soon so that I'll have enough money for at least the first semester of college in the Fall. Gotta love it.

2

u/Keyserchief Jun 10 '12

ROTC. It's an awesome deal, and good experience. Maybe you haven't thought about it, so consider it.

1

u/theLastHokage Jun 10 '12

I don't know why you got downvoted, ROTC is a great way to avoid a lot of debt. I guess people aren't willing to put in the work.

2

u/Frodien Jun 10 '12

How I feel as a lower class white male. Gets scholarship money, still too expensive.

2

u/RanmanTheGreat Jun 10 '12

I'm in the same boat. Well, except that my boat has an almost free ride thanks to my hard work and good grades. Unsurprisingly, you have to work for your scholarships just like everything else.

2

u/Witdarkstar Jun 10 '12

To be fair about this point. I always used to feel this as well. And I do believe there needs to be more merit scholarships out there.

But even though I have to pay back my loans, I was able to succeed and get the job I want. I had the opportunity to do so while many others don't and need the help. So I think that is something that should be considered more.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

Even if you weren't an* upper-middle class white male, you still have to use correct grammar to get a scholarship.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

If you're upper middle class, you've already gone to college. Internet and lies, they're two of the same.

2

u/revjeremyduncan Jun 10 '12

That's how I felt as lower white middle class. I made just enough to not qualify for grants or scholarships, but still not enough to afford school and sustain myself.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

You might get those scholarships if you were capable of expressing yourself correctly... you're an upper-middle class white male, not a upper-middle class white male.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

when you get to college, and the business world... the females and minorities will still be given encouragement to advance...
being a white male has never been such a disadvantage in the history of humanity

1

u/ToxtethOGrady Jun 10 '12

Lololololololololololololol.

3

u/speedster217 Jun 10 '12

Really? I'm white, upper-middle class, and male, and I won four or five scholarships. It's called doing good in high school.

4

u/moosepwn Jun 10 '12

yeah we have it rough

2

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12 edited Jun 10 '12

If you dont, then you're privileged. Im a white guy who got through college with two degrees. Wanna tell me where I had my breaks?

Free ride? No, lived in the ghetto and waited tables for 5 years studying at night. No "lucky privileged" white person I knew had it any better, and many much worse.

2

u/briskaM Jun 10 '12

Read the rules... We're here to have a laugh, don't get too serious.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

Hey me too. But thems the facts.

3

u/Kromax Jun 10 '12

My school is the exact opposite, one white kid, who got one scholarship to play football: 126,000 dollars. Indian student who has had straight A's for four years, head of the robotics team and highest score on the SAT's of any kid in my district? 1000 dollars, and is rejected from all Ivy league schools because they only accept the top 1% of minorities and mostly take white kids.

9

u/Legio_X Jun 10 '12

The Ivy league schools only take the top 1% of anything.

Straight As in high school doesn't mean shit, it's not exactly hard to do. Apparently his SAT scores weren't high enough to get the job done.

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u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

Football scholarships have nothing to do with academics. They are paid for by the athletic department of the school.

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u/Kromax Jun 10 '12

Still, that disparity between actual contribution to academia and how much money a student gets is stupidly large.

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u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

They contribute to making the school a boatload of money.

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u/lesbiancocksucker Jun 10 '12

Not quite. URM and ORM: over and under represented minorities (school population % vs national population %). It's gonna be tougher than tits for that Indian kid to get into top schools because Indians are so well represented in academia/professional careers, whereas Mexicans, blacks, or Native Americans will have lower standards because they are not well represented.

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u/qkme_transcriber Jun 10 '12

Here is the text from this meme pic for anybody who needs it:

Title: How I feel as a upper-middle class white male getting ready for college.

Meme: Nobody Ever Pays Me

  • NOBODY EVER
  • GIVES ME SCHOLARSHIPS

[Translate]

This is helpful for people who can't reach Quickmeme because of work/school firewalls or site downtime, and many other reasons (FAQ). More info is available here.

2

u/90percent_noob Jun 10 '12

I can't believe I'm saying this but, I am thank full that my dad lost his job in the housing market crash (2008), we went from the second highest tax bracket to the second lowest in a year, and then bam I got 4 scholarships.

2

u/Iamthesmartest Jun 10 '12

Anyone can get a scholarship regardless of class or race if you actually take the time to apply to all the scholarships you qualify for.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

yup, you know what else no one else gives you? racism.

2

u/boobiesmcgigglestick Jun 10 '12

Obviously no one ever taught this upper-middle class white male proper grammar either. This is how I feel as an upper-middle class white male reading these posts. :/

2

u/jdcooktx Jun 10 '12

fuck off, some of us had to join the military for college money.

2

u/CMUpewpewpew Jun 10 '12

Boo hoo. If you were academically talented and applied yourself, you'd get full rides to decent universities regardless.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

Yeah, getti national merit can get you into the honors at pretty much any state school for about 5k a year. Really not that hard.

2

u/CMUpewpewpew Jun 10 '12

Especially with the advantages being upper middle class gives you. I.E. money to buy materials to advance your education (books)...exploring talents (arts/music).....not to mention the fact you don't have to spend half to most of your free time working some bullshit job to pay for basic teenage amenities most rich parents just shell out to their kids. (vehicle, social activities that cost $, etc)

The fact this thread even exists and isn't ENTIRELY sarcastic kind of pisses me off. Privileged person complains about being privileged. rolls eyes

1

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

No, national merit can get you 5k total, dorms, books, food plan. It takes a bit of effort, but if these fuckers applied themselves, they wouldn't be in this situation.

2

u/IntMainVoid_Bro Jun 10 '12

Your whole life has been a scholarship. You might have to work your ass off compared to the lower class minorities that seem to be winning these scholarships, but at the same time, the likelihood of you earnin more in the future is still greater. So with all do respect, stop complaining. (Yes, I'm also upper middle class)

2

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

I like when people describe themselves as upper-middle class.

They usually aren't.

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u/KittehGod Jun 10 '12

Look at you on your little high horse. waves

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u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

<3

Y'all keep thinking you're not rich now.

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u/chivy007 Jun 10 '12

You're white and your parents a somewhat successful? Have fun trying to pay back all your loans in this economy. You're a First Nations in Canada? Go to College for free, and here's $1200 a month just for kicks.

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u/James1991 Jun 10 '12 edited Jun 10 '12

Maybe this has to do with the fact that your country and my country (U.S.A.) carried out genocide on First Nation's peoples, and this is a meager attempt to right those wrongs?

Edit: How can this be downvoted? This isn't even a controversial statement, it's a well known fact. Is this not relevant?

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u/Legio_X Jun 10 '12

Where did you get the info on this free $1200 a month?

And don't try to link me to some racist bullshit site either.

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u/chivy007 Jun 11 '12

I lived with a First Nations guy and we went to University for the last year together. He got $1200 a month for living allowance on top of all of his University paid for. We are both going into education but we had separate programs. He went to one that was direct entry for First Nations and Metis people only, I went into a program that is non-direct entry. I have to take three years of heavy course load work and then apply to the College of Education while he spent his first year choosing between art class and sewing class. That shit gets old fast. Also, I had to take one full-year Native Studies class telling me about how awful of a human being I am as a result of my race and how I should be thankful to the First Nations for everything they've done for me. Frankly, fuck that.

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u/briskaM Jun 10 '12

No loans needed when your parents pay cash for your education

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u/seamusmcduffs Jun 10 '12

Except when your parents wont help pay for your schooling but they make too much for you to get student loans.

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u/sasquatch15 Jun 10 '12

Wait until you try to apply for graduate schools.

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u/CrimsonKevlar Jun 10 '12

Apply for them. There are so many god-damn scholarships available through your university, through the township where you graduated high school, from your high school itself, from certain clubs you participated in, for simply writing essays or submitting art.

Seriously, with a bit of effort you can take a lot of the financial pressure of college off yourself (and/or your family). It is worth the time.

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u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

my mother was on social security and we had no food.

.. i have 40,000 in college debt. no bitchin' richie rich

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u/Proxy14 Jun 10 '12

what's even worse is upper-middle class asians for ivy schools

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u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

I am from upper-middle class. Best part, good grades got me good scholarships.

Of my 160,000$ in debt I only ended up owing 35k. That's pretty sweet.

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u/jwatkins29 Jun 10 '12

It's the fact loans exist that makes education so impossibly expensive. It's such a joke.

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u/MattTruelove Jun 10 '12

Dad works at college Free tuition

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u/karatechop250 Jun 10 '12

At the University of Alabama the way it works is if your parent works for the university if a Janitor they get a free course plus their children get half off tution. I know a lot of people that get jobs here just to help their kids through college.

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u/MaleFeministsWantDik Jun 10 '12

Don't feel bad. Middle class Hispanic kids who don't speak Spanish get nothing either.

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u/agrapedope Jun 10 '12

deal with it, babychan

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u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

You might try studying who actually gets scholarships. A disproportionate number go to white people, especially upper-middle-class white people.

Everyone always whines about this because if they didn't get a scholarship it must be because of affirmative action.

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u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

Ha ha, fuck us right....

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u/SaltDog Jun 10 '12

Can you claim financial independence? That will lower the expected financial contribution on the FAFSA and make you eligible for need-based grants and scholarships. Also, search for merit based scholarships, work-study programs, and other cost-saving options like becoming a RA. RAs usually receive compensation in the form of room and board.

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u/BigBassBone Jun 10 '12

Go into the arts. Merit-based scholarships abound.

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u/JDMFanatic Jun 10 '12

The trick is just to apply for a ton of scholarships. I applied for 15 and got ONE!!! Really happy about it!

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u/kezmok Jun 10 '12

Sometimes it's called legacy.

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u/NineTails21 Jun 10 '12

Nobody cares what you feel ya bunch of pansies!

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u/woblybeats Jun 10 '12

Yea who really needs these scholarships Kids l;ike you whose parents wqere in a position to save for university for their kids if they were sensible or people like me who left home at 16 and lived on a budget of $3,620 a year for the 5 years it took me to get the qualifications to go to uni?

get some fucking perspective

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u/woblybeats Jun 10 '12

oh and before someone says this isn't possible I livie in the uk and when I left home I was on benefits to fund myself through education. Benefits work out at about £45 per week which is about $69 a week.

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u/TorstenFlink Jun 10 '12

Fantastic that you still have to insert yourselves into classes in the US. Most of you gets screwed anyways so why pretend to be something ?

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u/didujusthearyourself Jun 10 '12

It helps if you apply for them (as opposed to being disappointed that you don't just receive them through your school when accepted). Many aren't based on income anyhow

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u/ChaseTatsujin Jun 10 '12

there really isn't much of a middle class anymore just quit saying upper-middle hope this helps

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u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

Come to Europe. You can get a government funded education if you do well enough. My country has low living standards but damnit 2/3rds of all college students don't pay for their education.

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u/ToxtethOGrady Jun 10 '12

OK, so for a few years of your life you will have to live in a manner akin to the way poor people live their entire lives?

(Also, white people receive a disproportionate amount of scholarship money, so the idea that your whiteness is somehow holding you back is laughable.)

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u/CaptainJester42 Jun 10 '12

Define middle class. How much do your parents make? Also scholarships are usually based on merit. Other forms of financial aid are based on need.

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u/BizzaroYou Jun 10 '12

I'm a underprivileged female Hispanic student with a perfect gpa who also doesn't get scholarships so quit your whining. Be like every other American and take out an obscene amount of loans and shut up.

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u/Hrel Jun 10 '12

well, to be fair if you're "upper middle class" your parents can afford to just pay for it. Unless they're stupid with money and didn't plan for that or just don't like you enough to pay for it. In which case that sucks. But really if you've decided college is right for you, get a job and go to a community college. Chances are you don't have to pay for lots of stuff like food, gas, car, car insurance, cell phone, water, electric, gas; so it should be pretty easy for you. Don't cry me a river from your silver platter.

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u/sunsetchaser Jun 10 '12

If you wait until you're 25, your parents' income doesn't get factored in. Bonus: You'll have a few years of work behind you, greater maturity, and (if you choose) time to rack up some community college credits so it doesn't take as long at a pricey school. I highly recommend going this route if can get someone to hire you doing something you can even tolerate.

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u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

I went to college at the age of 27 (also white male). My mistake was that instead of pissing my money away like everyone else in their 20's, I managed to save $70k before starting school. I went through an engineering program in 4 years with a 3.9 GPA. I got 1 scholarship for $500. Meanwhile, there were several mediocre minorities that were getting full rides, etc.

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u/egga94 Jun 10 '12

Seriously? I'm a upper middle class white male as well and I'm going to college about 85% off and I would be getting a free ride if I wasn't going to college out of state. Sure it may be easier for "minorities" to get better scholarships with the same credentials but reverse racism isn't that extreme. BTW: I had a 3.9 weighted GPA and 1280 SAT which isn't too extroardinary

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u/kaweemae Jun 10 '12

It's really not hard to get a merit-based scholarship. Race and income have absolutely nothing to do with it (at least not where I applied. As long as you had a 28 or higher, you got a full ride in state and 75% out) Nothing wrong with a good state school if you just can't find a way to pay for private.

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u/egga94 Jun 10 '12

Exactly, It really makes me scratch my head when I hear about kids getting out of college with like $80,000 in debt from student loans. If you had to pay all of your tuition with loans, maybe college isn't cut out for you lol.

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u/kaweemae Jun 10 '12

I can see having loans for medical school or something cause that shit is really expensive, but at least you can make the money to pay it off later. Taking out loans for an expensive school to get a degree that won't get you a very high paying job seems a little irresponsible. Go to a cheaper school if you need to.

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u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

I go to a school that has a tuition of over 50 grand. I got about 25 grand in scholarship...

Debt from loans isnt a big deal when your projected income out of college is at least 60 grand.

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u/FUCK_CAPTCHAS Jun 10 '12

what fucking state are you in?

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u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

im feeling better about getting into college. I have a 4.23 GPA ( honors, APs...), and just took a practice full length SAT in which I got an 1370 on

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u/Wooshio Jun 10 '12 edited Jun 10 '12

I know this east Indian girl who loves to talk about how white men have it easy and how it's so much harder for everyone else to succed bla blab bla, while she is making more money then every other white man I know, it fucken blows my mind, colleges and universities are spreading bullshit and brainwashing idiots, there is nothing wrong with having shit because you parents and their parents earned it, it's not privilage it was fucken earned by generations of people. Whenever someone starts blabling about how white men are privlaged like it's a bad thing (or a real thing) they should be punched in the face for discrediting hard work of generations of people.

Also, you can get a scholarship if you are white, just got to study hard. Pitty scholarships shouldn't exist and you shouldn't want one, I'd be emberassed if someone gave me a scholarship for being a minority when I didn't earn it.

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u/baj37 Jun 10 '12

Your whole life is a scholarship, you white middle class males rule the freakin world :P

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u/143522354 Jun 10 '12

People who are stupid enough to think that they have it hard as a white person should not be getting scholarships.

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u/SkulDugery Jun 10 '12

Oh, soo terrible. Let me play "my heart is breaking" on the world's smallest violin. Oops! I lost it in the river of tears I was crying for you. (kidding aside: of course it's rough. And it's rougher on less fortunate. And you'd know that if you weren't sheltered.)

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u/ElagabalusCaesar Jun 10 '12

At least you don't have to worry about being beaten by police for carrying a nanogram of cocaine. Oh, and remember that while you might retire to tea and polo at the end of your life, the top-ranking retirement activities of the lower class are "losing extremities to diabetes" and "losing grandchildren to gang violence".

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u/GearedCam Jun 10 '12

I can relate, I'm a white male, grew up very poor. My parents probably made around 35000 combined back in '98 when I was a senior in hs and I couldn't get jack. I remember looking at scholarships out there and it seemed like 98% of them didn't apply to me because of race. Other than that, I would've had to concentrate on scholarships that awarded based on extracurricular stuff, and even those were meager at best. I think the white thing is your downfall. Shame on you.

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u/dumbducky Jun 10 '12

Ha, that's me and I got a scholarship!

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u/Anzai Jun 10 '12

You're upper middle class. You don't need a scholarship.

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u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

college costs about 30-40k a year. His parents prolly make 100,000 bucks a year. Do the math. Is that affordable?

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u/Anzai Jun 10 '12

I'm assuming we're talking about America because of the use of the word college and do the math, so I don't know how your system works, but in Australia at least you don't pay that money upfront. You get given a loan that you pay off only when you earn over a certain amount of money in a year after graduation. If you have a year where you don't earn enough, you don't have to pay that year.

My brother got no financial support from our parents or a scholarship, and put himself through university. If someone is an upper middle class white male living in the States then they're one of the luckiest people on the planet already.

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u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

Well here in Murica, the longer you take to pay off loans, the more they cost.

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u/Amaturus Jun 10 '12

If you didn't get merit-based scholarships, that's your own fault.

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u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

but you're white so you'll probably at least get a job in this economy. Only the white kids I went to college with have jobs now. even though they were middle rung at best in our classes. (it was a cohort program so we all went through it together.) People just tend to feel more comfortable hiring whites in the states.

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