Can we bring back the MetaFilter scholarship?

September 19, 2003 11:53 AM

Can we bring back the MetaFilter scholarship?
posted by insomnyuk to MetaFilter-Related at 11:53 AM (42 comments total)

I wanted to do it this spring, when normal scholarships were in full swing, but didn't get the time to recode the submission and voting applications. i would definitely like to do this in the near future though.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 12:07 PM on September 19, 2003

Send insomnyuk to charm school: a waste is a terrible thing to mind.
posted by y2karl at 1:25 PM on September 19, 2003

I think it'd be nice too. Especially if you waited until next fall and opened it up to Grad School students too.... *cough*
posted by Ufez Jones at 1:28 PM on September 19, 2003

quonsar to hebrew school!
posted by Mid at 1:30 PM on September 19, 2003

y2karl to brevity school.
posted by pardonyou? at 2:01 PM on September 19, 2003

No, no, Mid: hebrew school to quonsar!
posted by me3dia at 2:07 PM on September 19, 2003

I'm heading off to ColdFusion school next week (yeah, quonsar, I know). Can it be retroactive?
posted by timeistight at 2:09 PM on September 19, 2003

I never heard of this idea before, but what a good one it is! Being poor and getting ready to go back to school I would most definitely participate in a MetaFilter scholarship program.
posted by Keyser Soze at 3:51 PM on September 19, 2003

.... And then give it all back when I become a millionaire.
posted by Keyser Soze at 4:34 PM on September 19, 2003

How about 20,000 dollars to my paypal account instead? That oughtta cover it.
posted by angry modem at 4:43 PM on September 19, 2003

it's a great idea, but how about opening it up to all of us? Like a mini-sabbatical for a week or two...we could all submit proposals for the use of the money (a class, travel, conference, workshop, etc)

or give it to Keyser and he can send us all away when he's a millionaire : >
posted by amberglow at 4:50 PM on September 19, 2003

Interesting idea, amberglow. I am well past my college years, but I would love to go back to school for something - maybe arts & crafts??
posted by madamjujujive at 5:44 PM on September 19, 2003

Maybe a paypal account could be set up, and people who want to donate college money can. Then when the pot reaches a certain amount, we could hold an essay (or similar test) to see who could use that money the most. CHecks could be written out to the school's library of their choice, because everyones gonna need to buy books. What do you think?
posted by Keyser Soze at 6:03 PM on September 19, 2003

I like it Keyser, but it leaves out all us older folk who want to embiggen ourselves. I'm eyeing a language-immersion thing somewhere, or a printmaking workshop.

and juju: great idea! "For when your feet have that not-so-fresh feeling"
posted by amberglow at 6:28 PM on September 19, 2003

A concern may be with applicants, or rather a lack thereof. Being that we've not really had MeFi signups open for a while, and noting the rather small number of entries for the last scholarship, I'm wondering if there would be more than two or three applicants (if any at all). Does MeFi still have any active undergraduate students?

Also, I think that the scholarship should remain an undergrad only thing (though I'm not sure I could give a good reason why).
posted by darainwa at 7:31 PM on September 19, 2003

darainwa: Also, I think that the scholarship should remain an undergrad only thing (though I'm not sure I could give a good reason why).

Maybe because undergrads are usually the poorest among students? Grad students at least get a stipend, usually, and returning students have probably been working at jobs for a while. Undergrads who aren't living off of their folks' pocketbooks or school scholarships, though, can have it pretty rough.

YARRRRRRRRR!
posted by UKnowForKids at 8:09 PM on September 19, 2003

I will sign up! Just give me the chance.
posted by Keyser Soze at 10:42 PM on September 19, 2003

Ahh, but professional schools (MBA, law, and med) usually don't give stipends. And this has horrible consequences. For one, I have been forced to drastically curtail my beer consumption. This will have a negative effect on my first year of law school as I am told that constant inebriation facilitates learning the law of contracts.

In sum, won't somebody think of the children?
posted by PrinceValium at 10:45 PM on September 19, 2003

hahahhah y2kurl and skallass yuo are teh funney !

I think it would be good to open new user sign ups for a while to increase the pool of students, though.
posted by insomnyuk at 11:03 PM on September 19, 2003

What Ufez said. Many times over ;)
posted by Space Coyote at 2:33 AM on September 20, 2003

Can we bring back the MetaFilter scholarship?

I dunno, can we?
posted by mcsweetie at 4:36 AM on September 20, 2003

how surprising - everyone wants free money!
posted by _sirmissalot_ at 9:58 AM on September 20, 2003

Grad students at least get a stipend, usually

Ph.D.'s and Masters only, pretty much. Just got my financial aid for my first year of med school disbursed. Seeya, $50k!

(As a past recipient of the MeFi scholarship, I'd vote to keep it to undergrads who are currently in school. They're generally hurting more, especially since many states with deficits have raised tuition ~10% over the last year.)
posted by gramcracker at 11:02 AM on September 20, 2003

I agree with gramcracker - while I could do with the money, being a grad student, I do think that undergrads are probably worse off.

As for amberglow's suggestion, I agree with that as well, since there's an awful lot of people who would benefit from this kind of 'life enhancing' grant - but if mathowie decided to do it, I think it should be separate from the undergrad scholarship.
posted by adrianhon at 12:10 PM on September 20, 2003

how surprising - everyone wants free money!

Master of the obvious strikes again! 10 points.
posted by insomnyuk at 12:22 PM on September 20, 2003

Yes, reinstate it please. My institution's financial-aid office labors under the delusion that parents of undergrads will always be willing to foot the rest of tuition.
posted by casarkos at 1:17 PM on September 20, 2003

Speaking as someone who is not a student, doesn't plan to be a student, and can fund her own life enhancing educational experiences, I'd also like to encourage Matt to bring back the scholarship. Not that he particularly needs encouragement, I'm just taking this opportunity to make the following laudatory statements:

When I read about the mefi scholarship, I thought it was just about the greatest thing I've ever seen from an online community. Feeling a bond with others in your community, helping them out, that's what makes a community. Unlike saving Karen or buying boobs or even buying a gift for Star Wars kid, it's a worthy goal, notable not for novelty value, but for actual, real value to the recipients. When I was in university, I won some decent sized scholarships that paid tuition, but it was those little ones let me eat. I would be proud to be able to donate to such an excellent cause.
posted by jacquilynne at 4:30 PM on September 20, 2003

Speaking as someone who is not a student, doesn't plan to be a student, and can fund her own life enhancing educational experiences, I'd also like to encourage Matt to bring back the scholarship.

speaking as someone who is not a fencepost, doesn't plan to be a fencepost, and can fund his own boundary enhancing demarcation experiences, i'd also like to encourage matt to put on a kilt.
posted by quonsar at 5:18 PM on September 20, 2003

Speaking as someone who is not quonsar, doesn't plan to be quonsar, and can't fund a trip to Disneyland at this moment in my life, I'd like to encourage Matt NOT to put on a kilt, cargo shorts, thong underwear, "cheese-head" hat or celebrity mask if he insists on continuing to photoblog.

a public service pronouncement
posted by wendell at 7:12 PM on September 20, 2003

Thanks UKnowForKids, I imagine that was my motivation for suggesting the scholarship stay undergrad only. I know while I was in undergrad I saw some students really hurting financially and my undergrad not really caring enough to do anything about it. On the flipside, I can't honestly say that any students at my law school seem to be in any sort of dire financial need, as our financial aid office usually bends over backwards for us.
posted by darainwa at 10:02 PM on September 20, 2003

darainwa, having glanced at your profile, do you happen to know this guy, by any chance?
posted by PrinceValium at 11:00 PM on September 20, 2003

PrinceValium, I just checked the photo directory of students at my law school. Yup, he's one of ours (though I can't say that I know him).
posted by darainwa at 11:59 PM on September 20, 2003

PrinceValium: darainwa, having glanced at your profile, do you happen to know this guy, by any chance?

Man, what a shit. (The guy in your link, not you, of course...)
posted by UKnowForKids at 12:12 AM on September 21, 2003

I'm a grad student with a stipend myself, and the stipend does not go that far. I also have much less time to work outside of school than I did as an undergrad, where at times I was doing 40 hours per week to cover both tuition and expenses, and was making out pretty well. I know I have a vested interest in it, but here's my proposition: how about separate categories for undergrads and grad students?
posted by The Michael The at 8:12 AM on September 21, 2003

It's funny, my grad school has specific regulations against grad students working for more than 10 hours a week if they are full time students (which means they have access to labs, get office space, etc)

I can see their logic, wanting to get people in and out more quickly rather than have people perpetually working on their thesis while they're actually concentrating on their paying jobs.
posted by Space Coyote at 9:08 AM on September 21, 2003

> I think it would be good to open new user sign ups for a while to increase the pool of students, though.

Perhaps the scholarship can be for a new account.
posted by Pockets at 7:43 PM on September 21, 2003

kilt sounds good to me...how about we supply these undergrads with kilts ?

theyre only 40 quid out of armstrongs down the road and you'll end up too tired to worry about finances : )
posted by sgt.serenity at 10:27 PM on September 21, 2003

As someone who's had quite a lot of education, much of it wasted, I'd throw in for this, would prefer UG to PG as can do without encouraging competition in the job market.
posted by biffa at 4:11 AM on September 22, 2003

I'm all up for donating to this good cause; you can put me down with those who vote for undergrad use. If there is enough interest, perhaps someone who is experienced in the world of finance could set up a more formal, 501(c)3 fund, so that donations would be tax deductable.
posted by TedW at 7:26 AM on September 22, 2003

Yes, reinstate it please. My institution's financial-aid office labors under the delusion that parents of undergrads will always be willing to foot the rest of tuition.

Oh yeah. I ran into that problem. I couldn't even take out a loan or get financial aid because I was under 24 and my eligibility for financial aid was dependent upon my parents' income -- even though they weren't contributing a dime. I walked into the Financial Aid office and asked, "so what's it take to be declared a financially independent student?" The answer? Abuse.

Anyway, I'll be applying for the MeFi scholarship if it comes back. Yay!
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posted by quonsar at 11:14 AM on September 22, 2003

I almost peed my pants, quonsar. HA.
posted by jennak at 9:21 PM on September 23, 2003