Who Deserves to be Funded?

 

Let’s kick off with a generalist view and say that all students deserves to be funded. All students; yes regardless of sex, religion, political affiliations, and perceived potentials.

This is the utopian dream; everyone deserves an economic chest to fund their academic aspirations.

Robbin’s in his classical definition of economics exposed the rather complex relationships between ends and scarce means.

Our ends; the desire to see every student dream funded does not in any way match our means.

So the conclusion came in very early; everyone who deserve it cannot be funded.

In transitioning from a utopian to this dystopian world, how do we navigate this complex relationship —- one between our ends and scarce resources?

Which of the needy students should receive this scarce resources ?

What are the criteria for this capital allocation?

Every society and institution has responded differently based on their peculiarity, available means, priority and vision. The funding of student have never been left to chance; it is one dictated by the prevailing economy and culture.

• Let’s first take a look at the peculiarity and vision

Every institution has a design; an approach to education and an area of economy/society it feeds. Awash with capital, the temptation does not even exist to channel the money to uncharted territories. 

This is the first constraint on how capital is deployed to education and research. An engineering school will hardly give you money to support gender inclusive education in the Arts and vice versa .

We have already established that “means” are scarce. Allocation therefore becomes one of a mathematical problem that needs optimization.

What does this mean on the part of the student?

Simply, that the race to distinguish yourself is on.

Societies, institutions and funding bodies will not just share money because a student is poor or cannot afford basic necessities. Rather, their interests will drive allocation of resources.

So for the student, the task is to identify funders whose interests aligns with your skill set or potential. The next step is to then to present your peculiarity to their mission.

In the scholarship parlance, this usually takes the form of a “statement of purpose“. The students are required to pitch themselves as a product, in the marketplace. This goes beyond the skill sets one have to demonstrating the relevance of such.

In sum, resources are scarce. The distribution towards funding education is tied to funders priorities and available means . The onus lies on the student to demonstrate “suitability to the task at hand”. There are no free “monies”; all we have got are resources on a mission.

Situate yourself in the path of the flight of the mission, as a student and the funds will come home.

You deserve to be funded!