<p>“The student with the least opportunity to obtain a college education in this country is the one with the affluent parents who refuse to pay.”</p>
<p>Quoted for truthfulness. I’ve always thought the same thing, but I’d like to add that more specifically, it would be a white student.</p>
<p>In my high school, most of the kids would have had money thrown at them from multiple directions just because of their race or family income; that is - if they bothered to go to college or claim it. We had assemblies where all the seniors had to be lectured on all of the unclaimed scholarship money and given a list of sources for free money. I, as well as a few others, didn’t qualify for any of the things on the list because I was white and my parents were affluent enough to exceed the income thresholds.</p>
<p>As a result, cost was one of the main factors in where I went to college. I also knew kids in my boat who were getting nothing from their parents and kids who’s parents would only pay for the first X years. I don’t blame the parents at all, because a burden of 20k per year, though modest compared to the cost of a lot of top colleges, can weigh heavily on a middle-class family, especially when there is another child who’s not yet in college and the parents are trying to save for retirement.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, one of my friends was getting a full-ride scholarship due to his family’s income, yet had a brand new blackberry, car, and all the spending money he would need from a non-parent relative. I also knew people who were getting 5k/year for PSAT scores 20+ points lower than mine simply due to their race. Don’t even get me started on the disparity of resumes being accepted at some of the nice schools in relation to race.</p>