Scholarship money is a type of financial aid, awarded to students for their academic merit based on a mix of GPA, SAT scores, and class rank (How to Get a Scholarship 2011). Nowadays it is not easy to get or apply for a scholarship as the requirements are high and merit-based. The prizes are almost always for the best students. According to the University of Virginia statistics, 318 students applied for a scholarship and only 83 got the scholarship (Scholarship Statistic 2011). The scholarship mentioned above was a merit-based scholarship and had caused such a low percentage of students able to get a scholarship. However, some universities were concerned about students' actual scholarship needs. Such a university is the University of Texas at Austin, where it plans to transition from merit-based scholarships to need-based aid by ending participation in the NMSP (Jaschik 2009). Hence, the scholarship should not be awarded based on merit. Although some people think that the scholarship can be a form of motivation for students to work harder, the government should consider awarding the scholarship to students based on other criteria because adequate distribution will ensure equity, will increase the financial burden of parents and students, and promote students. ' performance in both the curriculum and co-curriculum. First, not all scholarship holders actually need the scholarship compared to those who actually can't get it. Carey (2009) states that it is sad to see the United States of America wasting a huge amount of money by providing college financial aid to students from high-income families. This shows that most financial aid is given to rich students instead of needy ones and it is such a waste of funds and resources...... middle paper ...... or work hard and dream big, win scholarship times, The New York Times, viewed November 1, 2011, .Scholarship Statistics 2011, The rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia, viewed October 31, 2011, .Seven out of ten students cannot buy books 2011, Education News, viewed November 1, 2011, .Sri Sathya Sai Baba quotes 2011, ThinkExist.com quotes, viewed October 31, 2011, .Study: 41 million in US can't afford basic goods 2007, Money Central MSN, viewed October 31 2011, .