Comments on: Lessons from Atlas Shrugged

By: Atlas Shrugged and the world today | Laws-n-Sausages

Atlas Shrugged and the world today | Laws-n-Sausages — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 02:28:49 +0000

[...] not the only one who’s seen this either. From The Liberty Papers: It seems the looters (i.e. collectivists) are everywhere and more active than ever. The big story [...]

By: Stephen Littau

Stephen Littau — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 20:02:45 +0000

@ Georgia Student

Thanks for the comment. I took a look at the article I linked again, realized I made a few errors about the facts, and made some corrections.

I think you also make very good arguments from the students’ perspective. These were not the arguments that stand out in the news coverage though.

As a matter of fairness, the state should grandfather in students with the lower GPA who wouldn’t have enough time to raise their grades to meet the new standard. What students should recognize is that the amount of money to support these scholarships is finite. If the standards aren’t raised and other adjustments aren’t made (the proponents of raising the standards argue), there won’t be enough money to continue the program at all.

By: Atlas Shrugged and the world today | TomKnighton.com

Atlas Shrugged and the world today | TomKnighton.com — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 18:13:54 +0000

[...] not the only one who’s seen this either. From The Liberty Papers: It seems the looters (i.e. collectivists) are everywhere and more active than ever. The big story [...]

By: Georgia Student

Georgia Student — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 21:07:40 +0000

Not that it is a justification, but the rallies concerning the HOPE scholarship are because the students picked their schools and majors based on the original stipulations (i.e. many students would have though twice about engineering/math/science if they recognized HOPE would change, other students would not have turned down schools like MIT and Harvard). Many only want a grandfather clause effective for at least a year to reevaluate scholarships and apply for loans (which it is too late to do for the summer/fall semesters). The state has already agreed that the funds would last as they do through 2013.

The scholarships also never occured because of “wealth distribution”- they are funded by the purchase of lotto tickets. Participation in funding this program is completely voluntary on the part of the Georgia taxpayer. Budget cuts on the part of the state have no effect on the scholarship, and cuts to the scholarship have no effect on the state budget. The concern is that the lotto funds will dry up because this scholarship is ridiculously easy to qualify for, and not insanely difficult to maintain, even in engineering.

The already metriculating students would like time to reevaluate finances though, while high school students would like time to bring up grades and reevaluate majors.