Facts About Scholarships:

David Letterman created a scholarship for the average “C student,” recognizing that it’s not all about marks some are extraordinary and amazing in other ways.

When a millionaire gave everyone in a Florida neighborhood free college scholarships and free daycare the crime rate was cut in half and the graduation rate jumped from 25% to 100%. He did this after being fired from Walt Disney World because his bosses didn’t think he could be a ‘company man’.

An Italian schoolboy who was selling snacks on campus at a lower price than the cafeteria was suspended for 10 days. He also received a prestigious scholarship from an institute that said the boy’s initiative should be “encouraged, not persecuted”. 

The Colt’s punter borrowed $100 for poker and turned it into $1,400. He used the funds for a trip to Miami to take part in a kicking competition for prospects. He made 9 consecutive field goals starting at 25 yards and moving 5 yards out each time. He was then offered a scholarship to WVU. 

In 2012, Miss America claimed to make $45 million of scholarship money available to women annually, where in reality, in 2012, the Miss America Foundation gave out less than $500,000 in cash scholarships.

Usain Bolt got offered track scholarships from many American colleges but turned them down to train in his homeland, Jamaica. 

Morgan Freeman turned down a drama scholarship because he dreamed of being an Air Force fighter pilot. He spent four years as a tracking radar repairman. At age 65, he finally earned his private pilot license.

In 2004, An NYU Student spent 8 months living in the college library due to being unable to afford tuition and room & board despite a $15000/yr scholarship and working 30 hours a week. Upon learning about this, the university gave him free accommodation through the summer.

A Chinese mathematical genius who had won a gold medal in the International MathsOlympiad denied a full Scholarship to MIT and chose to become a monk in a Buddhist Monastery.

Oregon gave US college football Heisman winner Marcus Mariota a scholarship after watching him play at one football camp despite him never starting a varsity game and being relatively unknown.

Billy Crystal attended Marshall University on a Baseball Scholarship but never played due to the program being suspended.

Dolph Lundgren had a Fulbright scholarship to MIT to study chemical engineering, and road-tripped up from NYC on a motorcycle and rolled onto campus with his then-girlfriend Grace Jones on the back.

Every year the Chinese government offers 60 students full scholarships to North Korean universities. Chinese students enjoy more freedom to wander around the country than tourists and are permitted to travel from city to city without a tour guide and take the Pyongyang subway. 

Rachel Maddow was the first openly gay or lesbian American to win an international Rhodes Scholarship. She used it to earn a Doctor of Philosophy in politics from Oxford University.

Research by the Pew Foundation found that 9 out of 10 Generation X parents believed their child would receive a scholarship or grant to go to college, which actually caused millennials to have to take on more debt themselves.

The Official Federal Presidential Public Memorial of Harry S Truman is not a statute or a state park, but a scholarship foundation.

Robert Morris University offers athletic scholarships to League of Legends players. 

Cooper Union is a privately funded college located in NYC which was founded in 1859 on the principle of education being “open and free for all”. All admitted students were granted a full-tuition scholarship. That policy was changed in 2013 and all future students will now be charged tuition.

Forest Whitaker went to Cal Poly on a football scholarship, hurt his back, switched his major to music and sings Opera. He got another scholarship to Berkeley to study drama. 

The money paid for tickets to the Great Exhibition in 1851 is still being used to pay for scholarships and grants for the researcher.