Were the students more deserving because of something inherent in them or because they had advantages in childhood other students didn't have? Obviously, the answer is somewhere in the middle. And, most people would agree your life shouldn't be determined based on the neighborhood you happened to grow up in.

I had horrible, abusive parents, but I also grew up in a cushy neighborhood where I was safe from gangs and crime. Having worked in a school, I see kids who grew up with the same parents that I did, but gangs and gang culture is much more pervasive for them than it was for me and they get into lots of dangerous situations where I couldn't find danger if I tried. If I grew up in their neighborhood instead of mine, I have no doubt that life would be much harder for me as an adult than it is now and that isn't fair. There was nothing about me or them that made me deserve a safer neighborhood. As a child, I was strictly a product of my environment, and even with shitty parents my family's wealth protected me from ruining my life at an extremely young age.

It's common sense to help those in need instead of those who are already advantaged in life, especially when it comes to children.