Texas Tech University student Matt Coday has done the unthinkable and is ready to go to court to defend it. Coday is the creator of the United White Person’s College Fund, a scholarship that will award money to white students in the United States, according to the Texas Tech newspaper University Daily. The scholarship serves as a source of financial assistance to students whom Coday feels have been discriminated against by organizations designed to give money to minorities. This scholarship is justified in confronting the policies of such minority-only organizations.
Coday is taking the much-needed step of calling attention to the idea that black-only groups and scholarships are acceptable, whereas the same kinds of “white” activities would be labeled racist in today’s society. “If I were to have a white students’ association or host a Miss White Lubbock pageant, people would say I was racist,” Coday said. However, rather than viewing this scholarship as such, it should be seen as merely another opportunity, another distinction in scholarship funding.
According to FastWeb.com, there are more than 600,000 scholarships available in the United States today worth more than $1 billion in money for college, and applicants fall into every eligibility requirement imaginable. Adding a white-only scholarship to this list should not be viewed as racist, but rather as an advancement of opportunity. Families across the country, regardless of color, require the help of outside funds to send their children to college. There are scholarships exclusively available to applicants from any number of majors or fields of study, and even to family members of military or government employees. This is simply a continuation of that trend.
The Department of Financial Aid at Texas A&M offers information and applications on their Web site for many scholarships, all with distinct and specific qualifications. They are offered through academic colleges, The Texas A&M Foundation, the Corp of Cadets, the Hispanic College Fund, the United Negro College Fund, the Native American College Fund and by residency. The eligibility requirements for scholarships available to students cover every distinction, and there should be no problem establishing white as an eligibility requirement for one of these.
Coday’s motives are in response to scholarship funds such as the United Negro College Fund. “For the longest time, members and supporters of the UNCF have said that their practices are not discriminatory,” Coday said. The UNCF’s stated mission is “to enhance the quality of education by providing financial assistance to deserving students, raising operating funds for members of colleges and universities, and increasing access to technology for students and faculty at historically black colleges and universities,” according to uncf.org. Whether the scholarships are discriminatory or not, the fund is clearly designed to aid black students in obtaining a college education, and the purpose of the United White Person’s College Fund is the same.
Out of the national graduating high school class of 2000, only 64 percent of whites enrolled in college, compared to 56.2 percent of blacks and 53 percent of Hispanics, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics. The statistics point out the need of scholarships for all races, as less than two-thirds of high school graduates in the United States are attending college. The number of students not graduating is equally staggering.
The creation of this scholarship should be viewed not as a response to other minority scholarships, but rather as an opportunity for white students in need of college funds to obtain needed financial backing.
Race-based scholarships are preferential to one group at the expense of others only if certain races are denied the opportunity for funding. Leveling the playing field and making a fund available for whites simply adds to the money that is available for funds solely providing for black, Hispanic, Asian or Native American students. Coday, if successful in his fundraising, is adding to the abundance of college funding available to students today.
The scholarship is a welcome idea to white students who feel they have been exposed to reverse discrimination in America, have been denied access to funding because they are not the minority. The establishment of a white-only scholarship may do nothing more than shed light on the futility of having scholarships based entirely on race, but the bottom line remains that funding for higher education should be widely available. The more opportunities for intellectual enrichment, the better.