Blog #7: College inequality

                This article focuses on high achieving, low income students and how they aren’t even applying to some of the nation’s best colleges. One factor the article touched on is that the students may not be applying due to lack of financial resources and information on financial aid. Also, students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds may have never been exposed to someone attending such a prestigious university. If these students don’t know anyone who has attended that college they are less likely to have heard of the institution in the first place. The article also mentions how low income students who choose a community college or a four-year university that is closer to home are more likely to not graduate. These low graduation rates also contribute to the low levels of upward social mobility. Depending upon a ruling based on The University of Texas, colleges may be pressured to begin recruiting students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds due to affirmative action programs.

                I think that this article holds a lot of truth. Many students choose colleges based on their financial means. I myself chose not to attend a college because I wasn’t sure how I would pay for it. Another deciding factor for me was did I know someone who attended the university. I would imagine that students also choose colleges that are closer to home for financial reasons as well. Out-of-state tuition is expensive and they may not have the financial funds to travel back and forth. This is an example of inequality because most of these students come from areas that lacked resources that could help them prepare to go to such an institution. This in turn creates a cycle of inequality. The student comes from a situation that lacks resources, they attend a mediocre college, potentially drop out, therefore returning back to the community that lacks resources. I think that considering SES as a part of the recruitment process for some universities and including SES in its definition of diversity will help to increase the number of low income students who apply to these colleges.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/education/scholarly-poor-often-overlook-better-colleges.html?hp