The Scholarship Racket

The senior class of 450 in a wealthy suburban high school was delighted by the fact that it had been offered $250,000 in college scholarships. But the school's guidance counselor was disgusted: "We didn't need a single dollar." Why had so much been offered to such a well-to-do few? The fact is, says President John Perkins of the University of Delaware, "something akin to a scholarship racket has evolved." In their blind competition for promising freshmen, many colleges and universities are unwittingly giving aid to students well able to pay their own way.

Last week a new organization called the College Scholarship Service was working on a plan that may change all that. An affiliate of the College Entrance Examination Board, the service has 92 members willing to cooperate on a new experiment in,, awarding scholarships. From now on, an applicant for a scholarship from a member campus will get a standard form asking him and his family every detail about finances down to the family car. The service will send copies of the form to the various campuses to which the student applied. Armed with this common information, the campuses will then decide just how much the student should get. Instead of trying to outbid each other for the candidate, they can, if they wish, all offer the same amount.

In time, the service thinks that it will do much to help colleges and universities untangle competing scholarship procedures. Furthermore, says Director John Monro of Harvard's Financial Aid Center, the service may cure another evil: "Colleges have tended to educate the public with the idea that scholarships are prizes. Getting one is like having a winning ticket in a sweepstakes. We've been putting money into guys who don't need it, and not conserving it for those who do."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.