Blog 2: Being Opportunistic
Last year, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) announced the Illinois Commitment, a financial aid package that went into effect Fall 2019 for new instate freshmen and transfer students with a family income of $61,000 or less and family assets are less than $50,000. The Illinois Commitment will cover the full cost of tuition and campus fees. There is another scholarship, the Illinois Promise, which is only available to instate students whose total family income is below the federal poverty level, their Expected Family Contribution (EFC) is equal to $0, and total family assets are below $50,000. Basically, the Illinois Commitment is for students who falls below the median family income in Illinois while the Illinois Promise is for students from low income households.
I met my friend Alexa, not her real name, when I was a junior in highschool and she was a freshman. We were in the same company for Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) together. In Fall 2018, I was a Junior in college and she was a Senior in highschool getting ready to apply to colleges. We came from the same neighborhood so I assumed our financial situations were similar. I told her that she should apply to UIUC because she was likely to receive both the Illinois Commitment and Illinois Promise scholarships which meant she and her family would not have to worry about how to pay for college. I thought the offer of a free college education at UIUC in 2019 was enough to convince to at least submit an application to get in.
Fast forward to Spring 2019 just after Spring Break. I was looking for a ride home and asked Alexa if she had a car to give me a ride home. We messaged back and forth catching up on what has happened since Fall 2018. She told me she was stressing out about picking which college to attend because every option was too expensive for her. I was confused why she would be stressing out about paying for college and asked her which colleges she applied to. She responded with UIC, DePaul, North Park, and Bradly. I asked her why didn’t she apply to UIUC and she said she did not like the school.
Not liking a school is a legitimate reason to decide not to attend it but when your choice is financially restricted it limits your options. I was in a similar position as Alexa when selecting which college or university I wanted to attend. However, I was not sure how the ones I selected ranked among themselves and cost of attendance from one school to the next was about the same price. I still think Alexa should have applied to UIUC so that she could rule out whether or not she would have been accepted. If she gets in, it would very likely be a low out of pocket cost. If she did not get accepted then at least she would know and the outcome is the same.
Regarding people being opportunists, whether its being a “good citizen,” unethical actions, or with patience comes good things I think they are all the same. Someone knowing or not that they have done something wrong can attribute near future problems as a “response” to their actions. I believe in Karma; you do good things towards others, good things will happen to you and vice versa. For example, finding a wallet filled with cash. You could reason that you found it because you have been a good person (patience), you could be a good citizen and decide not to take the cash or turn it in to the authorities, or you could take the cash (unethical). I wonder what is right and wrong if it is decided by the majority opinion of society.
I met my friend Alexa, not her real name, when I was a junior in highschool and she was a freshman. We were in the same company for Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) together. In Fall 2018, I was a Junior in college and she was a Senior in highschool getting ready to apply to colleges. We came from the same neighborhood so I assumed our financial situations were similar. I told her that she should apply to UIUC because she was likely to receive both the Illinois Commitment and Illinois Promise scholarships which meant she and her family would not have to worry about how to pay for college. I thought the offer of a free college education at UIUC in 2019 was enough to convince to at least submit an application to get in.
Fast forward to Spring 2019 just after Spring Break. I was looking for a ride home and asked Alexa if she had a car to give me a ride home. We messaged back and forth catching up on what has happened since Fall 2018. She told me she was stressing out about picking which college to attend because every option was too expensive for her. I was confused why she would be stressing out about paying for college and asked her which colleges she applied to. She responded with UIC, DePaul, North Park, and Bradly. I asked her why didn’t she apply to UIUC and she said she did not like the school.
Not liking a school is a legitimate reason to decide not to attend it but when your choice is financially restricted it limits your options. I was in a similar position as Alexa when selecting which college or university I wanted to attend. However, I was not sure how the ones I selected ranked among themselves and cost of attendance from one school to the next was about the same price. I still think Alexa should have applied to UIUC so that she could rule out whether or not she would have been accepted. If she gets in, it would very likely be a low out of pocket cost. If she did not get accepted then at least she would know and the outcome is the same.
Regarding people being opportunists, whether its being a “good citizen,” unethical actions, or with patience comes good things I think they are all the same. Someone knowing or not that they have done something wrong can attribute near future problems as a “response” to their actions. I believe in Karma; you do good things towards others, good things will happen to you and vice versa. For example, finding a wallet filled with cash. You could reason that you found it because you have been a good person (patience), you could be a good citizen and decide not to take the cash or turn it in to the authorities, or you could take the cash (unethical). I wonder what is right and wrong if it is decided by the majority opinion of society.
You wrote about the prompt for next week. That is okay. Next week go back and write about your experience with organizations, which is the prompt for this week.
ReplyDeleteSo I will comment on this post.
I didn't get how your story about Alexa says anything about being opportunistic - either you or her. It's unfortunate, but you didn't seem to get the type of story that you should tell. So let me give you an example. Suppose Alexa got the message from you but then said, you know my standardized test scores aren't high enough to get into the U of I. Do you have a female friend who might take the tests on my behalf so I have the right credentials for admission?
In this hypothetical, Alexa would be acting opportunistically, taking advantage of her friendship with you. How would you have reacted in this case? You might write something about this in your comment.
I did find the Web site for Illinois Commitment. Thanks for mentioning it. In some sense it is a response to this information about the family income of students who attend Illinois. Attendance is skewed toward the higher end of the income distribution, which is contrary to the mission of the university, but seems to be happening nonetheless.
Oh I see. I interpreted opportunistic as any kind of opportunity.
DeleteIn regards to your example, I would not help Alexa because it puts all parties involved at risk of being punished if the school were to ever find out. In this situation, if Alexa did get accepted to the U of I she would benefit the most while the other female friend and I do not receive much if any benefits. I also would not help her because I do not condone cheating or lying to others.