Scholarships the world over have played a vital role in educating children coming from a poor background and have realized many dreams in the process. There are a lot of positives that are associated with scholarships because they are always meant for good. However, there are also a number of negatives that come with scholarships.
Pros:
1. Helps students get an education: Scholarships have always been a tool to help students to get the required education that they would otherwise have not been able to achieve without the scholarships.
2. Offers equal opportunities for all students:
Scholarships offer equal opportunities for all students who want to go and study but are disadvantaged. This means everyone has a fair chance of getting an education.
3. Ensures poor children get access to education: Scholarships are the only way for poor children to get an education. Without it, it would be difficult for children from poor backgrounds to get an elusive education.
4. Gives bright students an opportunity to pursue their ambitions: Scholarships are a means through which bright students who have a talent in education can pursue their own individual ambitions.
5. Gives financial benefit to students: Scholarships offer financial benefits to students who have no affluent background. This allows these children to not only get an education but also buy things that they may need both at school and at home.
6. It guarantees career advancement:
Scholarships offer children an opportunity to pursue their dreams in school. By doing so, they are also able to pursue their careers and are assured of a successful career at the end of it all.
7. Guarantees personal growth: Scholarships guarantee personal growth for students because it gives them an opportunity to study and build their capacity to do some of the things they would otherwise have not done.
8. Scholarships don’t have to be paid back: Scholarships are financial aids that do not require a refund or a payback. This means that people who benefit from scholarships are at a better chance of succeeding early in life.
9. It distinguishes students from his/her peers: Scholarships give students a chance to be distinguished from their peers through an education.
10. Scholarships help someone enter a selected university: scholarships also play an important role in ensuring students are able to enter their dream universities.
Cons:
1. There are limited spaces for each scholarship program: Scholarship programs usually come with limited slots meaning not everyone will have the opportunity to get into the program.
2. Very deserving students might miss out: There are instances where very deserving students end up missing out on the scholarship programs because the system may be compromised.
3. Scholarships usually have very strict demands: There are usually very strict demands for scholarship programs to the extent that people may miss out merely because of these demands.
4. The system isn’t always fair: In some cases, the scholarship programs may be awarded to people who may not be as deserving of the scholarship as others who were left out.
5. Pressure to prove your worth: Students usually have to deal with the pressure to prove their worth and to justify why they are the best to receive the scholarships. This may end up opening some wounds for some students.
6. The beneficiaries are at the mercy of the givers: Scholarship beneficiaries are usually at the mercy of the caregivers of the scholarship programs.
7. Scholarship money must always be used for the intended purpose and not any other: This means that a student who is ailing cannot use the scholarship money for hospital bills and vice versa.
8. Sometimes the money is sourced from other students to pay for the rest: There are some instances where the scholarship money is paid for by other students whose parents are well off without their knowledge.
9. There is usually no job guarantee even after getting the scholarships: Even after benefiting from a scholarship program, there is usually no job guarantee after school.
10. The scholarship may be withdrawn midway depending on the availability of funds: There are instances where the scholarship fund may be withdrawn due to a lack of sufficient funds for the program.
