History Main / ScholarshipStudent

In most stories set at an expensive and prestigious school [[LuxuryTropes largely populated by rich kids]], there will be one -- and usually only one -- student who's [[PovertyTropes middle-class or even poor]]. Usually this student is there on a scholarship (as the trope name indicates), but sometimes there's another reason for their being there -- maybe one of their parents teaches there so their tuition is discounted or free, or maybe their parents just scraped together the money to give their child the best education they could. In some cases, the student doesn't have a "scholarship" so much as a "loan", or has some combination of loans, scholarships, and/or grants.

* Implied two in ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler''. Hayate himself is in Hakuou because Nagi is paying his tuition, we're not sure how Hinagiku (or her sister Yukiji) came to be there, though Hinagiku has the possible excuse of her sister working there.

* Demi Lovato's character Mitchie from ''Film/CampRock''. Subverted in that it's a summer camp, not a school.

* ''Series/ColdCase'' featured an episode where the victim attended a prestigious, private middle school in Chestnut Hill on scholarship. She was mocked endlessly by the rich kids, especially a trio of [[AlphaBitch mean girls]], before her death.

* The ''[[Literature/{{Discworld}} Assassins' Guild of Ankh-Morpork]]'' has occasional "scholarship students". While most of the students from the Guild are nobility sent for the first-class education, who rarely actually become assassins, the "scholarship students" got free education for outstanding work in the field of study - in this case, murder. Generally, they work for the Patrician. The first one we meet is Arthur from ''Literature/{{Pyramids}}'' (who received his scholarship thanks to a famous assassin father), but the concept was really established, named, and codified with [[spoiler:Inigo Skimmer]] from ''Literature/TheFifthElephant''. The scholarship boys appear again in the Moist von Lipwig books with Cranberry from ''Literature/MakingMoney''. According to this book, scholarship boys tended to get bullied, but "some of us survived", although other works, especially the ''Assassins' Guild Diary'', suggest that if an arrgogant rich kid starts bullying a scholarship boy, [[BullyingADragon it's not neccessarily the scholarship boy who should worry about surviving]]. The diary also claims that scholarship boys can be distinguished by the heavy wool Scholar's Gown they must wear at all times, including swimming lessons.

* The ''[[Literature/{{Discworld}} Assassins' Guild of Ankh-Morpork]]'' has occasional "scholarship students". While most of the students from the Guild are nobility sent for the first-class education, who rarely actually become assassins, the "scholarship students" got free education for outstanding work in the field of study - in this case, murder. Generally, they work for the Patrician. The first one we meet is Arthur from ''Literature/{{Pyramids}}'' (who received his scholarship thanks to a famous assassin father), but the concept was really established, named, and codified with [[spoiler:Inigo Skimmer]] from ''Literature/TheFifthElephant''. The scholarship boys appear again in the Moist von Lipwig books with Cranberry from ''Literature/MakingMoney''.

* Obscure comedy manga ''Ten Yori Takaku'' is about Konoe Hiroyuki, a commoner who attends Hinomiya Private Academy ( nicknamed named "Heavenly Academy") on a scholarship.

* ''Series/ColdCase'' featured an episode where the victim attended a prestigious private school in Chestnut Hill on scholarship. She was mocked endlessly by the rich kids before her death.

* Haruhi in ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub'', who's in the school due to her getting a really good score on an important test.
* Tsukushi in ''Manga/BoysOverFlowers'', who got into the VERY exclusive Eitoku School due to her brilliant grades allowing her to get a scholarship.
* Obscure comedy manga ''Ten Yori Takaku'' is about Konoe Hiroyuki, a commoner who attends Hinomiya Private Academy ( nicknamed named "Heavenly Academy") on a scholarship.
* Mai Tokiha and her brother Takumi get into Fuuka Gakuen through a scholarship in ''Anime/MyHime''. [[spoiler: Which happens to ber a part of Mashiro's BatmanGambit to bring her to the school and reunite her with the other [=HiME=]s. Natsuki tries to scare her off at the beginning, but it doesn't work.]]
* Halfway through the manga version of ''Manga/ShadowStar'', Shiina Tamai gets into a ''very'' prestigious and exclusive all-girls' middle school through a scholarship. Funnily enough, she was formerly BookDumb.
** Subverted in the case of [[spoiler:Satomi]], who ''tried'' to get the same scholarship before her but didn't make it so she had to get in through normal ways.
* Tanpopo, the main character of ''Imadoki!'', is one.

* There's a very silly ecchi manga by the name of ''Manga/SeeMeAfterClass'' which has the protagonist as one of these.

* Maya Kitajima from ''Manga/GlassMask''. She's offered a scholarship in Tsukikage's art school and runs away from home when her mom Haru forbids her from taking it up.
* Dimitri from ''Manga/KurobaraAlice'' is a lower-class boy [[spoiler: (more exactly, a kid from a UsefulNotes/{{Roma|ni}} caravan)]] who's taken in by a rich man and given a scholarship in an art school due to his singing voiuce.
* Sharo in ''Manga/IsTheOrderARabbit'' is one, [[DeconstructedTrope and actually regrets it]], as this caused confidence issues arising from her need to socialize with [[PennyAmongDiamonds peers that are not in her socioeconomic group]].
* Referenced in ''Manga/DeathNote'', as (due to his sloppy clothes in combination with the fact that he got to make the first-year speech along with Light) the students at Todai University ''think'' L is this. They are ''extremely'' astonished when Watari picks L up in a Mercedes-Benz limousine.
* Downplayed in ''Manga/BlueExorcist'' where two of the characters ([[BigLittleBrother Yukio]] and [[FaceOfAThug Ryuji]]) are scholarship students and in the same class (the Advanced A class) thus. The actual lead [[AntiAntiChrist Rin]] is ''[[BookDumb not]]'' a scholarship student and in fact only gets in thanks to his new guardian being the headmaster there, as much as his half-demon nature and desire to be an exorcist does. He's thus in 1-D (also known as the lowest rank for classes).
* ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'' actually has two major scholarship students, the male lead Miyuki Shirogane and his little sister Kei. Miyuki got in via his intelligence (well, his bizarrely extreme study habits), though whether Kei got in on her own merits or because of her brother is unknown. Two others also appear in the series, though they either are only revealed to be such in their character profile (Kazamatsuri) or aren't introduced until the end of the series (Takano). There's also something of a stigma against attending school this way rather than coming up through the [[ElevatorSchool elevator system]], though only Takano is seen suffering from it as the other three had already been attending for at least a year by the start of the series and thus had time to earn their place in the social hierarchy.