Sean “P. Diddy” Combs is one of the most successful and polarizing figures in hip-hop. From launching several successful business ventures to having the opposite of the Midas touch when it comes to launching recording artists over the past several years, you’ve got to either love or hate Sean John.

However, his latest PR stain deals with his son, Justin Combs. Combs, 18, maintained a 3.75 GPA in high school while playing football. As a result, he’s been offered a $54,000 merit scholarship to UCLA. Good grades + athletics to boot = crazy scholarship money. No big deal, right?

Wrong.

When one thinks of who his father is, it seems that the scholarship could be better used to give someone with similar skills and no means to afford a college education a chance to better himself. In fact, many are calling for the family to return the scholarship.

However, the guy earned it with very impressive skills in the classroom and on the football field. He definitely deserves the scholarship. So here’s the issue. One could say that young Mr. Combs does not need the scholarship, but that’s assuming everything stays the way that it currently is for the entire four (or more, perhaps) years that he is in college.

Other moguls Dame Dash, anyone? have fallen swiftly from grace, and as has been noted, Dad isn’t having much luck as far as hits and albums go shout-outs to Danity Kane and Day 26.

Admittedly, with the amount of royalty checks/revenue steams he generates, it’s not very likely for things to get bad. However, scholarships are also – in a sense – an acknowledgement of a student’s accomplishments and value. Should an insanely rich student be undervalued at a university just because his parents can afford to pay? Wouldn’t that make it even harder to motivate children of privilege?

This is a young man who has far from squandered the great opportunities afforded him by his father’s success. He could’ve been another Paris Hilton or a Kardashian-esque heir, but he has chosen to do things the right way. He earned the scholarship. Need typically goes into determining who gets them, but we’re gonna guess that need was trumped by UCLA’s “need” for the free publicity that would come with having the Son of Diddy on the team.

At any rate, there seems to be an easy fix to this one: Diddy could easily start a scholarship fund in his name for the same amount as a way to reach out and give back. In this case, it seems to be the right thing to do.

Source: CNN

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