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From this announcement:

Applications for the Yiannopoulos Privilege Grant, a college tuition grant created by Breitbart News Senior Editor MILO exclusively for white men, are now being accepted.

Yiannopoulos explains the justification for the grant in the announcement by saying (emphasis mine):

“It started as a joke, but if you’re a women (sic), or you’re black… If you’re disabled, or you’re Muslim, or a refugee… If you identify as an attack helicopter, you can get free money,” he continued. “But the facts say that actually it is young white boys who are educationally underprivileged. As educationally underprivileged as many other groups..."

No evidence is provided for the bolded claim. What "facts" are Yiannopoulos referring to?

Oddthinking
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LShaver
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    Given the context, it appears that Yiannopoulos is referring to scholarships that are available with the implication that there are more for targeted groups then for white men. As such, this really could be two questions: are there fewer scholarships for white men than others, and are young white boys educationally underprivileged. – rjzii Feb 01 '17 at 19:32
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    @rjzii The article says in conclusion "Men, as you may know, make up just 43% of America’s 20.5 million college students". – DavePhD Feb 02 '17 at 11:31
  • @DavePhD I'm not sure how that addresses the first part of my question? – rjzii Feb 02 '17 at 14:14
  • @rjzii The comment wasn't meant to address the first part of your question. I was really just quoting the only specific claim from the article that I saw. For the first part of your question, some colleges give preference to children of alumni in admissions, which perpetuates any preexisting racial imbalances, going back many decades. Then, on the other hand, according to SallieMae "there are specific scholarships for African American students" https://www.salliemae.com/college-planning/college-scholarships/types-of-scholarships/minority-scholarships/african-american-scholarships/ – DavePhD Feb 02 '17 at 14:40
  • @DavePhD The first part of my question was my whole point in commenting in the first place. My interpretation of what Yiannopoulos did is that he was making a point about perceived *quantity* of scholarships that are exclusively available for white males as opposed to other groups. I suspect the answer is "Yes, there are more targeted scholarships available and Yiannopoulos is missing the point as to why." but that doesn't negate the fact that it is still part of the claim. – rjzii Feb 02 '17 at 14:46
  • @rjzii I don't really understand what his point is. To me "educationally underprivileged" means lacking education, not lacking money. And the "43%" figure makes me focus on the lack of education men (especially black men, but also white men) receive relative to women. – DavePhD Feb 02 '17 at 15:04
  • @DavePhD Yiannopoulos appears to be equating "educationally underprivileged" to lacking money to pay for education. – rjzii Feb 02 '17 at 16:06
  • Since when do "young boys" of any color (other than a very few exceptionally gifted) go to college? – jamesqf Feb 04 '17 at 19:27

1 Answers1

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This is a very vague claim, but one way to consider it is by college degrees awarded:

enter image description here

enter image description here

In all types of degrees, 2 year, 4 year, masters and PhD, women are getting more degrees than men. This is true for every race and every type of degree.

By race, the below figure: Figure 18.1. Total college enrollment rates of 18- to 24-year-olds in degree-granting institutions, by race/ethnicity: 1990–2013, shows that there are still fewer blacks than whites going to college. Less whites go to college than Asians.

enter image description here

For more information see the US government report Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Groups

DavePhD
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  • Interesting. Across races, this indicates that white men are more likely to receive each degree than men of most other races. For these graphs, what is the source/year? Also, is there similar data for high school/GED? – LShaver Feb 01 '17 at 18:01
  • @LShaver The male/female graphs are 2012-2013 – DavePhD Feb 01 '17 at 18:02
  • What about admissions rate, rather than graduation? If the admission rate for white males is lower (say, because of affirmative action), one could argue that would support the claim. – Kevin Feb 01 '17 at 18:04
  • @Kevin my lower graph is about admissions ("enrollment") see also https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/the-gender-factor-in-college-admissions/2014/03/26/4996e988-b4e6-11e3-8020-b2d790b3c9e1_story.html?utm_term=.a7e753fa71ec – DavePhD Feb 01 '17 at 18:07
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    @DavePhD ah, but that doesn't take into account the proportion of each race that actually wants to go. If, say (numbers invented for effect) 80% of white males wanted to go to college but only 40% are admitted, but 25% of black males want to go 30% do get in, which one is underprivileged? – Kevin Feb 01 '17 at 18:12
  • @Kevin This is another way to look at it: http://www.aei.org/publication/2015-sat-test-results-confirm-pattern-thats-persisted-for-40-years-high-school-boys-are-better-at-math-than-girls/ girls do better in high school, even though boys have much better scores on the objective SAT math test. – DavePhD Feb 01 '17 at 18:19
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    I get the impression that Yiannopoulos was addressing scholarship availability for white men, can you update your answer to include that as well? – rjzii Feb 01 '17 at 19:33
  • @rjzii I don't know where to begin: http://diversity.unc.edu/resources/new-students/awards/101-scholarships/ – DavePhD Feb 01 '17 at 20:26
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    @rjzii "Among all sources of grant funding (federal, state, institutional, private, etc.), white students (who make up 61.8 percent of all students) receive 51.3 percent of grant aid awarded based on financial need alone, while minority students receive 48.5 percent... White students, in turn, receive 75.6 percent of grants awarded based on academic and other kinds of merit, compared to 24.3 percent allocated to minority students." in 2008-09. (These numbers are not controlled for need e.g. family income, nor for differences in HS education that could affect eligibility for merit-based aid.) – ff524 Feb 01 '17 at 20:54
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    [Source](https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/09/06/merit_based_and_private_scholarships_disproportionately_favor_white_students) (didn't fit in previous comment). Also interesting: "29.9% of Caucasian students with a combined SAT score (or equivalent ACT score) of 1400 or more out of 1600 received institutional merit-based grants, compared with 8.2% of African-American students, 19.8% of Latino students, and 17.7% of Asian students." – ff524 Feb 01 '17 at 20:57
  • @LShaver 84% of females graduate from high school, but only 77% of males. https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2014/2014391.pdf – DavePhD Feb 03 '17 at 01:14