Scholarships: Socially Encouraged Gambling

As a poor college student, scholarships are a necessary part of my life. Last semester I spent a good portion of my free time applying for scholarships. During that time I didn't think twice about the large amount of time and money I put into these applications. Every organization wanted my life story and verification. To be fair, it's free money, I would want to know where my money was going too. But, when it gets to the point that financially-disabled college students are required to pay hundreds of dollars (no, not an exaggeration) all in order for the chance to get some money, I start to get a little confused.

To apply for a certain scholarship, I needed to supply the following:

BC Transcripts: $9.60
HCC Transcripts: $6.05
UCB Transcripts: Free (because Berkeley is awesome)
High School Transcripts: Free (once again, awesome)
SAT Scores: $9.50
SAT Subject Scores: $9.50 (each) = $19.00
ACT Scores: $8.00
FAFSA Report: Free

Total: $52.15 (and that's without having to pay for my current college or high school, which a lot of students have to do)

Taking into account the odds of most scholarships, I just paid to have a rejection email sent to me in the next 6-8 weeks. Now, I know that we're all suppose to take those odds into account. Because of the horrible odds, students are encouraged to apply to dozens of scholarships. Odds are you have to get one right? But what if that one is $500 and you applied to ten scholarships? If you're me, you just lost money. In the end, no matter what scholarship you pay to apply to, you are still taking a risk, and according to the dictionary, that is gambling. 

Courtesy of Free Online Dictionary:

gam·bl

v. gam·bled, gam·bling, gam·bles

v.intr.

1.

      a. To bet on an uncertain outcome, as of a contest.

      b. To play a game of chance for stakes.

2. To take a risk in the hope of gaining an advantage or a benefit.

3. To engage in reckless or hazardous behavior

The only definition that might not work is 3, but I'm sure someone could argue it.

The point of all this isn't to change the way it's done, just to point out another way that the academic system sucks money out of students. I will still continue to apply to scholarships because, in the end, what else can I do? Do I think that transcripts should be free? No. That'd be way too expensive for the schools. Do I think that it costs too much to apply for the chance at winning money? Yes. Solution? Forget scholarships and play the Lotto. But then again, now that the connection between gambling and scholarships has been made, maybe the hyper religious will stop applying. Better odds for the rest of us.