Scholarships Based on Income, Low Income

[beaners]

Are most need-based scholarships for extracurricular activities and university costs put in place to eliminate financial barriers to participation or to increase diversity? I know certain specific scholarships are clear in their goals being one or the other, but what is your opinion for things that aren't? Having so many kids, I'm finding that we qualify for a lot of things that I wouldn't have expected. For some activities it is clear that they want kids who are talented and interested to be able to take part regardless of income, so they offer scholarships. For others I get the impression that they want diversity that would otherwise be lacking due to the high cost of the activity.

 

So here is the second part. Are we the kind of diversity they are looking for? I think this is something that occurs in some homeschooling families because we give up a second income or take a pay cut in exchange for more flexible hours to have someone at home teaching. Our family does not reflect what some people would expect based on our income. Our kids often have a lot of advantages compared to kids in other families in our tax bracket. We are interesting and unusual, but I'm not sure we are what they want in the name of diversity. I don't want to take a scholarship in place of a kid who needs it more just because our family has a lot of people for our income.

 

I'm not needing advice for a particular scenario. It just came up in conversation the other day and I've been mulling over how I feel about it philosophically.

[AimeeM]

Around here, there are scholarships available that are based purely on need. The activities range from parks and rec based sports, to theatre and art classes, to dance. 

 

[katilac]

imo, if you are eligible for the grant, then you are eligible for the grant and there is no reason not to take it.