1 - A Problem With Debt
As a High School senior, the inevitability of student loans always hung over my head, and yet among the sea of things that I could’ve done, scholarships never felt like an option. Scholarships exist to help students pay for a college education, something which has become indispensable for a “suitable” life nowadays. So then why do students willingly ignore the plethora of scholarships available to them? The answer is frustratingly simple: scholarships aren’t built around the student’s they’re supposed to target. Most scholarships require individualized essays in order to apply, let alone the extra essays and/or projects demanded by scholarships that provide larger sums. Even more so, these essays call for a certain
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The core concept behind ‘Design Thinking’ revolves around attaining a goal rather than simply fixing a problem at hand. Since focusing on an objective already helps address any unmet needs, goal-oriented solutions lay the groundwork for other improvements including future ‘Design Thinking’ solutions. As such, solutions of this nature need to be socially fluid, tangible in nature, and broadminded in approach. ‘Design Thinking’ solutions have the potential to change work habits and attitudes alike, so the accommodations made for users is vital to a solution’s success. How someone feels after experiencing change is an indispensable factor, especially when attempting to alter an individual’s perspective. In turn, these changes must be somewhat tangible so that users can more easily adjust by having something to follow and keep track of. Finally, solutions of this nature should always focus on the bigger picture in order to maintain direction, user freedom, and the solution’s ability to adapt. These three principles of operation, social fluidity, tangible nature, and broadminded approach, will facilitate the creation of an effective …show more content…
Our first solution tackles the problem from the academic side: a middleman service provided to high schools which links academic progress with third-party academic resources (such as scholarships). An online checklist linked to permanent records would be given to students. This checklist would help visualize a student’s chances of getting into University, and offer premade info-sheets that can be forwarded to any resource (including scholarships) linked through the service. Ultimately, this service would reduce financial stress on the student by decreasing some of the grunt work requested by scholarships and by providing other alternatives. At the same time, scholarships would gain access to more information about their applicants and be able make more informed
The American dream is a rhetoric of hope and mobility to reach the heights of economic sustainability that you wish to achieve. The idea is that the amount of effort you put forth will emanate the amount of success you can produce as a byproduct of American society. This concept however couldn’t be further from the truth, as many have tried to work up for years but only got slightly better at best then they say what they were nearly a decade ago. Many researchers have demonstrated that not only has the American Dream often times been influenced by our socioeconomic roots, but that to progress out of it is like a dime in a dozen. Since education provides students the material to move onto the larger job industry, and because the disparity between high school graduates and college graduate has increased so drastically, Americans are clamoring for college now more so than ever before. Student debt has been an issue that has kept many Americans in the lower end of the social class spectrum to miss out on utilizing college resources. Many financial aid programs have been established to attempt to decrease this tendency, particularly the Pell grant having the most success. Unfortunately, despite the initial success of the Pell grant program, it still has its limitations on how much help it can provide to underprivileged students. An incentive based scholarship program such as the Performance-based scholarships where attendance rates, passing classes, and student involvement
Finally, the most difficult challenge students face in college is a financial hardship. Many students come from various walks of life and sometimes determining one’s financial capability to offset college costs during the early stages of can be problematic. Some students come from well to do families who have a tremendous capacity to pay full tuition without external assistance. These particular students do not require financial aid or scholarships, as they can meet the institution’s financial requirement regardless of what level in college they may fall under as the source of wealth is derived from the family or families. Other students, however, come from impoverished families whom solely depend on financial aid and work full time or part time
Students work extremely hard for four years or more to keep high grades, but instead of looking at these grades, colleges base scholarships on one test that students take in a few hours. Scholarships should be based on GPA because it is the best representation of a student’s knowledge and shows the type of work ethic the student brings fourth. Colleges should want to give scholarships to diligent, disciplined, and deserving students who work hard their whole high school career, not just students who do well on one
Only four students went straight to the workforce, when a century ago, this was not the case. With students now consistently going straight to college after high school, state universities should be free to state residents since we have public high schools. In Kalamazoo, Michigan, students who attend high school in Kalamazoo starting in ninth grade, can have from sixty-five to one hundred percent of their tuition covered (Teicher). This is known as “The Promise.” The Promise guarantees any student from Kalamazoo a scholarship that pays either a majority or all of their tuition (Teicher). This scholarship can be used for any state school, fifteen private schools, and other state schools around the United States that are less than the highest tuition in Michigan (Teicher). Since The Promise’s first wave of scholarships, there has been definite improvements in college attendance. For black students, there has been a three percent rise in college attendance and overall forty-eight percent of scholarship recipients graduate college (Teicher). While this has shown an impact, there certainly are other factors that lead to the fifty-two percent that do not graduate, such as not being taught time management, academic skills, or how to take advantage of their sources (Teicher). Despite this fallback, “The Promise” has definitely started an era of higher college graduation rates and those who lack financial support a method of
As upcoming high school seniors, many such as myself, desire scholarships in order to alleviate the financial burden that attending a university can bring. Though this considerable and generous scholarship prize money will be used to further my education at Texas A&M University, my main wish is to bring pride and satisfaction to my family. As a first generation student, I am humbled by the opportunity of obtaining an education in America. Since my parents were migrants from Vietnam and Hong Kong, a successful life here was unheard of many years before. Financial strains do occasionally plague our lives, however, we have not forgotten the strenuous hard work and sacrifice that my parents have conquered in order to put their two daughters through
One prevalent issue among disadvantage students is that they lack resources or information on how to get into college. For instance, they lack knowledge on how to apply for financial aid, scholarships and other important sources for college admissions. Thus, one way that philanthropist can ensure that disadvantage students get into college is by creating workshops. In general, workshops are effective sources for learning because they are created to inform individuals and large audiences about the needed steps to address social problems. Even though, high schools nowadays have services aimed to educate our youth, we notice that most students who participate into these programs are already high achieving students and not the high-risk population. Thus, philanthropists can help our present youth by funding workshops in all low-income schools. The objective is to guarantee that our vulnerable population also have a chance to go to college. Lastly, another way that philanthropists can help the high-risk population is by funding scholarships. For example, despite that most disadvantaged students are getting into college, they still lack the resources and the financial stability to secure their positions at their schools. Therefore, scholarships are effective sources for philanthropists because they can identify and provide our least privileged students
Scholarship can be defined as “academic study or achievement; learning at a high level.” I have always considered myself to be very driven and motivated when it comes to my education. I take pride in the fact that I have received “A honor roll” every year, thus far. But, up until this point, making good grades has come naturally and I have found that the longer I am in school, the more difficult making the grade becomes --
One of the biggest challenges college students face today is debt associated by student loans. Nearly every college student will graduate with debt unless supported by academic or athletic scholarships, grants or financial aid. This issue can be addressed by encouraging students to pursue scholarships, and applying for financial aid. Though not all scholarships are capable of fully funding a student's tuition, most can help provide for fees, books, or housing. Many websites and counselors are open to providing scholarship opportunities to students who seek it. Applying for smaller scale scholarships often can result in a larger amount of money than at first anticipated. Applying for large scale scholarships are worth the time that is spent
Last year around this time of year, I was devastated when I found out I could not attend my first choice school, the University of Delaware. This was not because I had not been accepted, but because it was far too expensive. This is when I realized how important scholarships, like the Malcom Wesley Myers and Anna Geary Myers Scholarship are.
Today colleges are growing more and more necessary for attaining a solid path towards a successful career, yet the rapidly increasing cost of tuition is driving students away from their dream of attending college, due to the preposterous amount of money that is now being demanded by colleges across the nation and world as a whole. It is sad to see students being turned away from a successful future due to the money-hungry nature of the universities that dot the globe. More and more impossible it is becoming to have a “rags-to-riches” scenario that used to highlight the American Dream, as if a student doesn’t have the riches to afford a higher education and the tuition that is drug upon its coattails, then our society is doomed to be clothed in rags forever, unless major changes are brought about to restructure and end the indefatigable growth of tuition rates across the board.
Each type of scholarship is awarded to students for certain purposes, for example academics, sports, community service, and etc. This gives anyone an
As the cost of education increases, many students search for assistance to help cover that cost. That form of assistance could come from burdensome financial aid or a scholarship that provides the student with an education free from debt. That’s why I am writing you today Mr. Alan Hall on behalf of the Student Scholarship Committee, bellow we have outlined the (1) the benefits to the student, (2) the benefits to you, and (3) how you can take action to help.
thinking as it encourages design to focus empathetically on the end user rather than as an afterthought.
I used speech marks on the phrase “Design Thinking” before entering it on the search engines. The purpose of this is to ensure I discover appropriate information. I have selected the book Design Studies by Catherine Stones published in 2010, The Principles & Purpose of Interactive Design published by Jamie Steane in 2014, as well as, the book Wicked Problems in Design Thinking by Richard Buchanan, 1992. The reason I have carefully chosen these books is due to the reviews, their informative nature and there are different range of published dates. Moreover, Tim Brown discussed Harvard Business Review in 2008 about Design Thinking, as well as, Jon Kolko wrote an article about 20 Design Thinking Comes Of Age and Phil Brown recently discussed Why Design Thinking Conquered The World, research as well as, Steve Lennon discussed about Design Thinking. The text, which is less relevant is the Wicked Problems In Design Thinking as it is quite an old text book. Overall, all these books and sources give applicable information.
Empathy is a significant characteristic of a design thinker and leads to ultimate success in the business environment. Empathy allows an entrepreneur such as Steve Jobs to gain an understanding of the human experience and develop Apple products that adhere to the desirability of customers. This human centred methodology and culture of innovation allows a design thinker to examine and understand perspectives of others both imaginatively and affectively. By utilising empathy in design thinking Steve Jobs was able to develop and build Apple’s future products in an innovative and successful manner as to emerge from any previous product failure or impediment.