<p>Reposting of this thread</p>
<p>First post</p>
<p>Surveys of top colleges found virtually no change from the 1990s to 2012 in enrollment of students who are less well off despite a huge increase in the number of such students going to college.</p>
<p>Please continue discussion in this thread! </p>
<p>Was the other thread closed because of technical issues?</p>
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<p>So if a college really wants to attract and retain these students, it would need to invest in the supports they would require to be successful – including lots of tutoring and coaching.</p>
<p>I can see why colleges might be reluctant to make that investment. But our society loses something important because they don’t. </p>
<p>In the other thread, I mentioned the NY state programs EOP (for SUNY schools) and HEOP (for privates including Columbia, Cornell, NYU, Barnard, Syracuse, etc.) that supports students from poor families that show promise but have stats below the middle 50 percent.</p>
<p>I’m glad this thread was continued.</p>
<p>Agree with the above posters completely.</p>
<p>Relevant article just posted to the NY Times website:</p>
<p>Picking Up an Elusive College Dream
For Tenille Warren, the burden of growing up poor was too heavy for even the offer of a free ride to college to counter. But, about to turn 38, she is back on track at the Fashion Institute of Technology.</p>
<p><a href=“Picking Up an Elusive College Dream - The New York Times”>http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/31/nyregion/picking-up-an-elusive-college-dream.html</a></p>
<p>@Marian: Our society loses something important because our K-12 education is lacking for too many kids, but I’m not sure why that is the responsibility of the colleges.</p>
<p>Didn’t read the other thread. I agree there are serious problems in the way we educate the poor. But I think not going to an elite college is the least of them. I personally think that an elite college provides a somewhat better education than other schools, and that interaction with other top students is very valuable. But a good and motivated student can be very successful coming from any half-decent school. These days, with the internet, information is very accessible to anyone who cares to look for it. True, they may not look for it. A lot of middle class kids don’t either. </p>
<p>I think there’s a lot of assumption being made that all poor students want to attend elite colleges and that of course they will be better off at such a school. Many of them may strongly value being closer to home and family or in a socioeconomic culture they feel more comfortable in. Is happiness not worth something? It’s actually a bit odd that we consider it entirely normal to ship our 18 year olds thousands of miles away to attend school. Look at the threads up now of how miserable some of those kids (even some who dreamed of going to that school) are, being so far away from family. Yes, most of them will adjust and most of them will have a good and broadening experience. But a kid who has no desire to move out of their area, who intends to work in the area after graduation, may not feel that going to a school so far away makes any sense for them. It seems rather paternalistic to say, there is something wrong if you aren’t interested in that.</p>
<p>Another consideration is that these kids have no economic safety net to fall back on. They are probably more likely to want a preprofessional major with good job prospects. Going to a liberal arts college and earning a degree in philosophy or classics probably isn’t going to happen. </p>
<p>@oldmom4896 </p>
<p>Thanks for the link…what a story!! I hope she makes it!!!</p>
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<p>I agree. We should make state universities more affordable. The poor could do better with less culture shock. With good education at a flagship, they can be very successful professionally propelling themelves to the elite class. I don’t see rubbing elbows with elite students is necessarily a better choice. </p>
<p>oldmom, what a great story. I hope she does well.</p>
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<p>becca/decca (along with your many earlier incarnations): why do you keep spamming threads with your judgmental comments? Is this really fun for you?</p>
<p>There are plenty of programs like Prep for Prep who do just that. And guess what? They are very competitive!</p>
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<p>And what about all the CC families who want their kids to go to smaller liberal-arts schools so that their students can have an academic experience that’s not all giant lectures? Don’t you think that poor students would benefit from that as well, instead of dealing face-to-face only with graduate students until they are sophomores?</p>
<p>Totally. LACs can be wonderful, nurturing environments.</p>
<p>State U’s hav honors programs. The environment is more like LAC’s. Supporting state univ’s will be far more effective for bettering lives of under-previleged kids. </p>
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<p>Oh really? Do tell.</p>
<p>I know kids from poor families that are first generation college students at top liberal arts colleges, and the colleges really work for them to succeed. A state school doesn’t always have the resources to do that.</p>
<p>Then focus our attention on the lack of funding for state colleges. That’s a bigger issue any way. The enrollment in elite colleges is a tiny fraction. I know NYT loves to talk about elite colleges as if there’s no story to tell in state universities. Even if they all succeed, I don’t know how much influence they will have for the next generation.</p>
<p>Sonia Sotomayor anyone?</p>