Better colleges failing to lure poorer strivers.
This article states that many top colleges are not being sought after by lower income students. Top students with higher incomes are far more likely to apply and attend selective colleges than top students with lower incomes. There are many reasons for this occurrence but a main reason is that fact that lower income students believe that top selective schools are too expensive. Many students are not aware of the financial aid available in selective collages. Students take the more simple route and attend community colleges or universities that are close to home. What is interesting is that top schools can actually be less costly with financial aid and scholarships than a state community college. New court rulings may even cause colleges to take into account various socioeconomic measures. Top low income students who attend a top college are far more likely to graduate then those who attend a community college. Schools need to get out to a more wide range of students. Students need to be informed that many schools offer aid and can be very beneficial toward them.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/education/scholarly-poor-often-overlook-better-colleges.html?ref=economy
This is very obvious. This is why the rich stay rich. Even though schools offer this proposed "aid" students still are unable to afford the price of schooling. Upper tier schools charge students upwards of 50,000 dollars. Even if a student was granted 25,000 dollars in scholarships this school would still be fiscally out of reach for the poorer less fortunate citizen. Also there are already programs that have been established at Universities such as Yale, Harvard and Brown. These programs entail that if the students parents make less than 30,000 dollars a year the college will shoulder the cost of enrollment. I guess you just might have skipped over that part.
ReplyDeleteValid point Matthew.
ReplyDeleteWith the increase in tuition at most upper tier schools makes it more of a challenge to get someone who is qualified to go to that school, but cannot fiscally do it attend. There needs to be more aid to help the less fortunate peers go to the school they are qualified for. With more aid or reduced tuition will come a more educated society.
I agree. Society is missing out on some very good minds as colleges make themselves less available to the poor. One could speculate that sometimes they are even the most eager to learn and will take the opportunity to go to college more seriously than other, more rich people, studying harder, being better students because they can appreciate it more. By opening themselves up more, by creating programs like Harvard's and Yale's, they could educate not only more, but bring in brighter young minds that deserve to be taught. Educating society more means more human capital. More deserving people will be available for specialized positions. With the better human capital, that could mean better/more productivity. I think it is a good idea.
ReplyDeleteWhile it is true that schools like Yale have programs to help parents that make 30k and under, these schools are still well out of reach for the average citizen, especially if they have more than one kid in college. With the cost of school going up There seems to be little end in sight.
ReplyDeleteIvy League schools are all well and good but there are other things to consider too, like plane tickets and gas prices. I have to disagree with the article that I think that it is less about having a role model to follow and more about the fact that sometimes it might be that transferring in to a big school later might give better scholarship than going directly to a big school from college. Plus, I've never understood what the stigma against community colleges is anyways? Can someone explain that to me?
ReplyDeleteThe difference between public and private schools also comes into play here. For lower incomes families with high-performing students, public colleges become more instantly-accessible; hence, we get the stereotype that private schools are for the rich.
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