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- Path: sparky!uunet!noc.near.net!transfer.stratus.com!sw.stratus.com!cdt
- From: cdt@sw.stratus.com (C. D. Tavares)
- Newsgroups: misc.education
- Subject: Re: USAA awards and scholarships legitimate?
- Date: 5 Jan 1993 22:10:51 GMT
- Organization: Stratus Computer, Inc.
- Lines: 56
- Distribution: usa
- Message-ID: <1id11bINNm8l@transfer.stratus.com>
- References: <1993Jan5.193201.17143@cbnews.cb.att.com>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: rocket.sw.stratus.com
- Keywords: scholarships, awards
-
- In article <1993Jan5.193201.17143@cbnews.cb.att.com>, baf@cbnews.cb.att.com (bernice.a.fink) writes:
- > My son's Spanish teacher was solicited by an organization that calls
- > itself the "United States Achievement Academy" (USAA) to nominate his
- > top students for an "International Foreign Language Award" (IFLA).
- > The teacher submitted my son's name and we received a mailing from
- > USAA requesting that we submit biographical information and an
- > optional picture for publication in their "National Awards Yearbook".
- > The mailing offers copies of the yearbook at $39.95 for book with
- > picture and bio, $35.95 for book with bio only, and $9.95 to get
- > picture and bio published without getting a copy of the book.
- > The mailing says that scholarship opportunities will be sent
- > on receipt of the biographical information. The address is in
- > Lexington, Kentucky.
- >
- > Can anyone tell me if the USAA is "dedicated to the recognition of
- > achievement" as they claim? Or is this simply a way of selling books?
- > Please respond only with facts - not opinions. Thanks!
-
- There are (and have been for decades) a number of organizations that
- simply print your high-school graduate's name in a large book along
- with everybody else who sent in money.
-
- I can't claim to have any SPECIFIC knowledge of "USAA," but like most
- boiler-room operations, they re-incarnate themselves regularly under new
- names so as not to get a reputation; and use official sounding names like
- "United States something" or "Ivy League something" or "Merit something"
- to sound like they're affiliated with some legitimate body you recognize.
-
- Now, some of them actually DO do their solicitations according to class
- rank or achievement, and don't include just anybody who sends in money.
- But whether or not this is the case, all you get for your money is a
- book (often a nicely-bound hardcover book, but just a book) with your
- child's name listed among maybe 10,000 others, and that's your
- "achievement of recognition." They stuff 50 people on each sheet of
- paper and gross $500 to $1800 on each page of the book.
-
- The one my dad dealt with 20 years ago did not offer "scholarship
- opportunities," but I would suspect that all 10,000 people simply
- get the same list of organizations offering scholarships to foreign
- language mavens, and that's that.
-
- The kicker here that you ought to notice is that, despite your child's
- objective achievement, his teacher's nomination, and the "Academy's"
- purported mission to "recognize excellence," your child will somehow
- still go completely recognized if you don't pony up at least $10.
-
- If you want to satisfy yourself on this issue, I suggest you call the
- admissions office of your favorite Famous University Known for Foreign
- Language Excellence and ask the officer if he's ever heard of USAA.
- Dollars to donuts he either hasn't, or he has and will tell you just
- what I told you.
- --
-
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