Suggesting an easy mindless thing such as buying a lottery ticket over writing an essay seems like poor advice, and modeling that kind of attitude and behavior as a father could lead to a lazy drop- out of the author's very own. Savings, university scholarships and government funds are undoubtly the best, first route to funding college, but for me, the extra effort towards competing for scholarships is worth a few hundred words of my own.
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One of the more ubiquitous scholarship sponsors on FastWeb is a company called Brickfish, which often asks students to compete for small grants ($500 or less) by making a video or blog post involving a consumer product that pays Brickfish to run a marketing campaign. "Scholarshiping sends a positive message, one of good will," says Brickfish CEO Brian Dunn. And though college costs are high, modest prizes are sufficient to get the reaction Brickfish wants. "Oddly enough, people react better to smaller amounts—they think they're more likely to win," Dunn says.
Donald Heller, director of the Center for the Study of Higher Education at Pennsylvania State University, says that applying for scholarships found on FastWeb and similar sites isn't worth the effort for most families. "The real action is in the dollars given by the institutions themselves," he says. (FastWeb's Boyce says he doesn't have statistics to prove it, but "anecdotally, we are helping students meet their goals.") As for my own family's strategy, I've filled out the usual government forms and ones offered by the college my son will attend; I will also keep an eye out for local programs that don't involve competing with FastWeb's 38 million registered users. And when the jackpot gets high, I play Mega Millions. At least with the lottery, you don't have to write an essay.
© 2008
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