The truth about scholarships mentioned at graduation

When you hear at graduations about the vast sums awarded to individuals, or to the entire student body, remember that it's mostly nonsense. Don't get me wrong. If you had access, and dug into the numbers, they would probably add up. Still, they are probably meaningless. How can that be? It's simple. High schools ask students to report the total amount of awards they've been offered and then report the total to the public. The problem is that a student may have been offered awards from several colleges. Needless to say, each college will only supply the award if a student chooses to attend that particular college. This vastly overstates the amount of real money each student "gets." If you didn't realize this, you might be tempted to wonder what's wrong with you--or with your child. Please don't.