Money for college

[donkey Hotay]

I'm attending school again working on my bachelors degree through Bellevue University. The first time I went to college it was $114 a credit hour, now it is $375 a credit hour and it is online. I'm trying to do it without taking out a loan. If I can get a grant that would be nice, but otherwise it is coming out of my pocket. I found I qualify for a grant but, I have not put in my application yet. Because I don't like where the money is coming from, but it is money that would help and money has no conscience.

So should I put in for it? I may not get it but if I do I'll feel scummy about it.

[Mike]

Let me guess...

[Phoebe]

Yes.

[Tahlvin]

That really depends on the source of the money and whether there are any strings attached. If it's from the KKK and they expect you to join in order to get the grant, then don't do it. If it's from the NRA (which we'll say you're opposed to) and you qualify because you're uncle's a member, but there's no need for you to join or support their cause, then I'd say go ahead and take the money. Heck, you could even see it as you using that money means the money cannot be used for some other purpose for that organization against which you are opposed.

It's really going to be judgement call on your part. If you think you would just end up beating yourself up down the road if you take the money, then perhaps you're better off skipping it and either paying your own way or searching for other sources of money.

[donkey Hotay]

Wow you were so close with the KKK thing. It is through Breitbart so all I have to be is White Male ans Straight. Yes I qualify Mike shut up.

[poorpete]

I probably/might/wouldn't, but you should totally do it. We get money from awful people all day long. As long as there are no strings attached.

[Phoebe]

As long as there are no horrible strings attached take every cent of their money you can lay hands on

[Cazmonster]

Five years and I need to start thinking about higher education for the guys. Egads.

[Tahlvin]

I'm there already. The oldest is on his second year and has 1 more year to go after that. Thankfully, he's planning to graduate in 3 years. But right after that, the second child starts, and right after she graduates (we told all of them we're only paying for 4 years of in-state tuition & room/board to UW-Madison; if they go somewhere more expensive or go longer than 4 years, they have to pay for the difference), the third child starts. So we're looking at about 9 more straight years of paying college tuition and housing.

[Phoebe]

Thinking about this subject practically puts me into a cold sweat. We only have a few years to prepare for The Beginning and then it goes on, presumably, for at least a dozen more years. The problem here is that I have Ideas about what is good for people and they turn out to be extraordinarily expensive ideas. However, we have been preparing for it a long time now. We bought a bargain-priced house we can afford to live in and hopefully will want to live in for the next few decades, if everything goes well. This permits skimming anything extra off the top to dump into college savings. If any of our kids decides to go to state schools or can get any type of scholarship to college or grad/professional school that's all to the good, but we have communicated the firm expectation that college is not good enough unless you have a specific career marked out for which a Bachelor's degree or something like an Electrician's degree is, technically, good enough. It would be nice if they were able to get some of the extra years of school paid for, but since that often doesn't happen and we'll be cruising into this place after years of Trumpism and state-level GOP action decimates educational funding, I'm expecting to pay. Could be hundreds of thousands; it's very scary honestly. But this is one of those things I believe in going to the mat for, however literally that turns out.

[poorpete]

Ok, I say you take the money, and this is why

Option 1. Take the money
- Your financial stability increases
- Evil org fiances decrease
- Your guilt increases

If your guilt overwhelms any financial benefit either:
Option 1a. live with your guilt
Option 1b. donate the money to those less fortunate (your financial stability returns to original level, your guilt decreases, evil org finances remain decreased)

Option 2. Don't take the money
- Financial stability stays the same
- Your guilt stays the same, or decreases due to your strong moral stand
- Evil org finances stay the same, and are free to spend their money elsewhere.

Get yourself the money. With it, educate yourself or help someone else. Either way it'll be better than what they would do with it.

[Mike]

I wish it were so simple. Although, even before I thought through the realities of it, I was still rejecting it. For me, it is not hypothetical. I have two sons in college who qualify.

But it's money from Brietbart and Milo Yiannopolis. All you have to do to qualify for $2,500 is be white, male, and straight and be going to college. Can't do it. Cant.

But then I thought about it more. Do my kids want their names in alt-right literature as proud recipients of this grant? Do they want Milo's people following up on their academic and career progress and stalking them on social media looking for "success stories" they can crow about? Do my kids want to suffer the potential consequences when the alt-right trolls find out that a couple of flaming, liberal, Trump-hating cuck's took their money?

I mean, I was saying no anyway, but the more I thought about it, the more it became hell-no.

[bralbovsky]

I'm on the "take it" side, trolls notwithstanding.
They'll just use it for real evil if you leave it in their hands.
Organizations spend lots following up on 'donors' etc, and one way to troll an organization you don't care for is to give them a small amount, once. They spend way more than that going forward trying to get more, mailings, calls, etc, are small individually but add up. It costs nothing to ignore them. You might feel bad about the extra recycling if you want to.
As far as listing on their site, whatever, IF it ever comes up, they can a) blame Dad (and when the group calls you you can tell them, as I told Mr LaPierre exactly what I thought of him) b) explain how that was pre-education and they are such smarter folks now, or anything like that.
Getting the education is such a good investment. Being in debt now is going to have worse and worse consequences.
Think of it this way: if the money was coming from the government, and you disagreed with how it was run, you'd take it and educate the kid how to properly run it.

[Ronster]

The only reason not to accept this grant is moral grounds, otherwise it would be foolish not to accept fiduciary stipends when the occasion presents itself. However if you would feel guilty or convicted about it, then stand firm on your beliefs and "Let that be your battle" and no one can ever take that away from you.

There are a few grants without any strings (Pell Grant, etc).

There was even an app on "Shark Tank" that would find scholarships for you. => It is $2.99

Best wishes in your education endeavors

[Phoebe]

I'm not certain exactly what the "strings attached" are yet. At first it didn't sound like any specific strings were attached and I thought you were talking about a scholarship from your university, so it would not have been legal for them literally to restrict it to white men (or black women) even if that's who usually wins it or what the donor wants. If it is specifically funded by Breitbart or this Milo guy, then do you have to write or say something publicly endorsing their ideology? If so, that's not just a string attached - that's a whole lifetime rope available on the internet to your employers, friends, and family unless you actually agree with them. I'd be afraid to be personally associated with this Milo guy because one of his supporters recently shot someone with a gun in the middle of a political protest and it's not really clear what was going on there. Now, if the Koch brothers are writing scholarship checks or something, cash yours and go forth into the world with clean conscience.

[Mike]

Yeah, it's Milo himself at the forefront of this.

I understand Bill's take on it, and it's very much a paladin thing to do: Take the money because you are technically legally entitled to do so, but also because it causes harm to a group that it actively evil AND gives you a platform to take a stand against them.

On the other hand, if a bunch of Milo supporters were able to find a way that they technically qualified for some diversity scholarship intended to assist primarily members of the LGBTQ community and people of color, but they take the money as a bunch of bigoted, hateful, white males and then brag about it and how they are using the enemy's money against them... the left would be rightfully horrified and outraged. So is using the exact same tactic (subverting the intended goals of this money) somehow justified if I do it, because my goals are good and noble? Or do we feel some obligation to be better than that, because we're the good guys?

[Ronster]

Self-respect is the gift only you can give to yourself.
Taking the high road is something that IMO is much more satisfying further down life's road.

At least you have done your homework and you know what you are dealing with.

[poorpete]

Why does Milo care if the person is straight?

Oh, wait, it's because he's the biggest troll in the world, right?

[Phoebe]

What do you have to do to get the money? That part is still not clear to me. I feel like there must be something I'm missing here, like this is not a "normal" scholarship at all.

[Phoebe]