So I was giving a talk at my old junior college, encouraging final-year seniors to apply to an overseas college like Penn. After the talk, a student came up to me and asked how he could afford the tuition fees for an expensive US education.

“Well,” I said, “Maybe you could apply for a scholarship?” He just stared at me like I just said the most ridiculous thing in the world, like “Hey, maybe you could rob a couple of old ladies?”

He backed away slowly and muttered, “No, I don’t think so.” And I was like, “Why?” And he said, “I don’t think I could ever qualify for a scholarship.” And then he left.

Here was someone who was presented with an opportunity to get hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding, and then subsequently disqualified himself from it. All because he just ...