Measure my life in coffee spoons and reblogs

Justin Combs worked hard in high school to improve his football game and earn a 3.75 GPA . He recently received a $54,000 merit-based scholarship to UCLA, where he’ll play football.

In April, Forbes named Justin Combs’ dad,  Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, the wealthiest artist in hip-hop. Some say the family should return Justin’s scholarship, arguing that Combs should pay for his son’s education and taxpayer money should go to students with greater financial need. Other say Justin Combs earned the scholarship through his grades and athletic ability, and deserves to keep it.

What do you think? Should the Combs family keep, return or donate the money? Should students with wealthy parents have access to merit-based scholarships and financial aid? via @CNN_Blogs

Not all wealthy parents want to support their kid’s education. They may want to teach their children to earn and struggle and work hard, maybe even to understand what debt is. Or they might just be tight wad jerks. I had a friend in college whose parents originally were going to pay for everything, but when he decided pre-law wasn’t the path he wanted, they cut him off entirely, leaving him scrambling to get scholarships and some really nasty, high interest loans, royally screwing him over. His parents were very wealthy, but as a college student, his personal funds were low.

It’s a merit based scholarship, not a “How poor are your parents?” scholarship. If Justin Combs earned it, he earned it.

In an ideal world, perhaps his father would create a scholarship fund in the family name, in honor of his son’s hard work, to support other students.