Question about ethnicity when filling out applications

[str8shooter]

My gun buying days are numbered as my first born prepares to leave the nest and has begun filling out college applications. She is completely on board with the fact that she'll pay as much as she can toward her college expenses. This will mean borrowing what she can in student loans, working part time if she can keep up her grades, and applying for financial aid and scholarships from whatever sources are available. I don't want to debate the pros and cons of affirmative action policies, but the university representatives she's talked to have made it clear that if she applies as a minority student, it will result in a significantly higher amount of financial aid. Obviously my income, assets, and monthly expenses won't change one bit, but checking the box next to Hispanic can make the difference between going to UPENN or Chester County Institute of Burger Flipping.

So my question is, what percentage of a "minority background" does someone need to be to be considered "legally" a minority? Although I'm of the first generation born North of the Rio Grande, I'm still not sure I want to play the "race" card, but when I hear about the amount of money some of the kids whose grandparents came from China and India are getting in aid (and I don't mean to single out Asians, but they're the folks I've talked to) I can't help but wonder whether I'm cheating my fellow Americans by having my daughter check Hispanic, or am I cheating her out of greater opportunities by not having her not check the box. One way or another she'll make it, along with her two siblings soon to follow, but is there some reason some of the wealth I've been spreading for so many years shouldn't finally come back around to actually benefit my kids if, in fact, they can be considered minorities under whatever legal definition exists?

[Robert Kayland]

Q: Are you colored?
A: Yeah... WHITE!

[LorDiego01]

Are you crazy??

If its gonna mean that your kid graduates college with LESS debt, tell them she's freaking adopted from Mars, and landed in your backyard inside a meteor if you have to.

[Jaralaccs]

I would imagine it would stop at parents (being born outside the US)

but who cares, take all the help you can get
Its their fault for not defining it more clearly

[Robert Kayland]

Are you crazy??

If its gonna mean that your kid graduates college with LESS debt, tell them she's freaking adopted from Mars, and landed in your backyard inside a meteor if you have to.

This.

/throw in some mention of an Aborigine great-grandparent too.

[Bmaninmifco]

If I recall correctly I think you had to be able to prove 25% for native american when i filled mine out.
I would assume it's the same all the way around

[s.vermeire]

If I understand correctly both of your parents are 100% Hispanic which means you are 100% Hispanic. By default your daughter has to be 50% Hispanic at a minimum. I would say this qualifies her to check the box next to Hispanic on any paperwork she ever fills out.

Now that being said I commend you greatly for not wanting to play the race card. I can't stand all the hyphenated nationalities we've allowed to become the norm here in the USofA. It is obvious that you are proud of the fact you are a citizen of the US and while I'll assume you respect your heritage you aren't exploiting it. This country needs more people like yourself!

[pirateron]

Are you crazy??

If its gonna mean that your kid graduates college with LESS debt, tell them she's freaking adopted from Mars, and landed in your backyard inside a meteor if you have to.

What He Said!!!!

[str8shooter]

If I understand correctly both of your parents are 100% Hispanic which means you are 100% Hispanic. By default your daughter has to be 50% Hispanic at a minimum. I would say this qualifies her to check the box next to Hispanic on any paperwork she ever fills out.

Now that being said I commend you greatly for not wanting to play the race card. I can't stand all the hyphenated nationalities we've allowed to become the norm here in the USofA. It is obvious that you are proud of the fact you are a citizen of the US and while I'll assume you respect your heritage you aren't exploiting it. This country needs more people like yourself!

Most of my father's father's family came over from Europe a few boats after the Mayflower, and his mother was from the Iroquois nation, making me 1/8 Native American. I actually lived on a reservation in Western NY for a few years and believe me, the history classes were teaching quite a different version of what I was taught when I started going to the white man's school.

It was my mom who swam the rio, so I'm 1/2 Mexican, making the kids 1/4 (and 1/16 N/A). I get really dark in the summer, but no one would look at me and assume I was a landscaper and I never felt I was discriminated against. Nor did I ever try to take advantage of affirmative action even though I know it would have opened some doors for me. At one point I was interested in a job with NASA and was told that I could rightfully claim I was Native American and since I already had a top secret clearance they'd hire me without an interview just to have a token on the payroll. However, I've never seen in writing what exactly the criteria is, and what sort of proof I'd need if asked, and even though we've learned from recent events that apparently anyone can claim to be of any heritage and birth place they want and not have to produce a birth certificate to prove it, I'm still leary about fallout from labeling my kids even though I never have myself.

[jahwarrior72]

it's unfortunate that she has to make the choice in the first place. but, if it means the difference between college or no college, then she is, technically, 50% hispanic.