"After reading Anthony Abraham Jack’s eye-opening exposure of what it’s like to be poor on elite college campuses, I can’t help wishing we could transfer some of the anxiety around getting into these exclusive institutions toward solutions for improving life for students who actually beat the odds and get there.
As shown in Jack’s The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students, getting in can mean going hungry over spring break, cleaning the toilets and showers of dorm mates and being directed to separate entrances at events.
Jack’s book brings home the pain and reality of on-campus poverty and puts the blame squarely on elite institutions for fostering policies that often ‘emphasize class differences, amplifying students’ feelings of difference and undercutting their sense of belonging.’" …
Opinion.
https://hechingerreport.org/after-all-the-fuss-about-getting-in-how-do-poor-students-survive-on-elite-campuses/
Perhaps not a surprise about that regarding some elite private colleges, since students from the lower half SES (approximated by Pell grant) may make up only 15% of the students (and not all of these students would consider their families “poor”), while students not getting financial aid (probably means family incomes over $200,000 per year) make up about half of the students. So those colleges are places where high SES predominates, with student services and such aligned toward high SES.
It signifies an erosion of the “donut-hole” middle-class who could, to some extent, mediate between the rich and the poor. Back in the day, virtually everyone I knew washed dishes in the dining hall or did a tour as a security guard to help pay expenses. Bartending or serving food to your fellow classmates were highly sought after jobs.
^ Oh they still exist. We were full pay in an Ivy. My daughter worked in a cafe inside the school.
^Same here (full pay, kid working at school and summers). The dorm crew jobs that are referenced are highly sought after as well, since they pay between $17.00-$18.25 per hour during the school year, but of course there are other jobs available both directly from school or in the vicinity for students who don’t want to do dorm crew. Dorm crew has students of all backgrounds working.
Additionally, at AAJ’s university, the students who come from families with incomes $65,000 or less, their financial aid covers the costs associated with tuition, room, board, books, travel, and other expenses, PLUS a $2,000 allowance for spending money on top of everything else, which should be able to be used towards spring break food as well as required winter clothing. It is actually much less expensive to be at Harvard than it is to be home, where you or your parents are probably paying for your food and other expenses, etc. I think focusing on the elite schools is the wrong place, as these schools have the resources to be extremely generous, and continue to increase their generosity all the time. It is probably the set of schools below where students struggle the most.
You mean like poor FA privates like NYU and BU, and publics in states with poor in state FA like Pennsylvania?
In my house, we call it the “full cost of ownership”. Like buying a high-end vehicle, it’s not just about the sticker price (or monthly payment): maintenance, insurance, etc. must be taken into consideration in order to understand what it’s really going to cost to run and maintain that vehicle. Even when we toyed with the idea of private HS for D, we had to ask ourselves if we had the means and desire to maximize that experience for her and ourselves (i.e. having the $$ and clout to run in the proper circles to make important connections/create opportunities, pay for the EC’s, etc.). We felt that our local public - with time/$ support from us - would be a better fit for our family. No regrets - she maximized her opportunities there and got into some great colleges. We got to keep $$ in our pockets to be able to allow her to graduate debt free.
It must be heartbreaking to get into a top school and feel like you are still an outsider. I agree that the middle class could be a great bridge, but we are continuing to be squeezed out of these institutions - don’t qualify for F/A, but don’t have enough $$ for COA without going into debt.