Shades of Mediocrity

Low-income families and college opportunity

Here's a great article at (yes) USNews.com that addresses the small number of low-income students (of any race) at most elite colleges and universities. Although the article focuses on private schools, what's so shocking to me is that only 11 percent of the undergrads at 19 selective institutions -- including U of M peers like the University of Illinois -- come from families with incomes lower than $27,000 a year.

Having once been in this position myself, I strongly identify with the Princeton freshman who finds that, as the child of a family whose income is around 50K, she is not like the vast majority of her fellow students. Things weren't quite as bad at super-lefty Oberlin, where (unlike at many Ivies) conspicuous consumption and the flaunting of wealth is seriously frowned upon. Still, the little things make it clear enough to the low-income student that his or her peers have a completely alien frame of financial reference. It's a valuable learning experience, but it isn't easy.

I've long wondered if one remedy proposed in the article -- "affirmative action" for low-income students regardless of race -- would help. There are, of course, a number of low-income students who manage to compile brilliant high school records, and don't need any help getting into the college of their choice. This was my situation, and when I was young and naive, I thought I owed my success to nothing but my own hard work, brains, and talent. Now I know better: my mother worked herself nearly to death to make sure that my brother and I had every "middle class" educational advantage she could possibly provide as a single parent making just barely enough to get by. Without her hard work, sacrifices, and support -- not to mention her attitude toward college (it was not optional) -- my brother and I would not have done nearly as well for ourselves. I had no understanding of how absurd it must have seemed to my mother when I selected a college 1500 miles from home with annual expenses well above her annual income. She didn't tell me it was impossible, though she must have been tempted -- she just helped me find a way. Considering the level of personal sacrifice (and suffering) my mom went through, it's hard to imagine how smart kids from families even less well-off than ours might make it not just to, but through an elite institution, public or private.

The article was a response to a newly published book: Equity and Excellence in American Higher Education. I will add this to my reading list, since this issue is near and dear to my heart.