https://features.thecrimson.com/2018/senior-survey/after-harvard-narrative/
Harvard’s senior survey has this:
If even students graduating from Harvard are significantly affected by family money, then it is likely that graduates of other colleges, trade schools, and high schools are even more affected by family money as they start their careers.
I could write the headline another way: Only Four Percent of Harvard Graduates Say Student Loans Impact Their Plans. That is a shocking contrast to what goes on in the rest of the real world!
Vague surveys are really the pits. How much do you want to bet that if a neutral observer looked at the 30% of students who said their family’s financial situation did not affect their plans at all, the neutral observer would conclude that family financial status was doubtless a major consideration?
That should be unsurprising since H is jaw-droppingly wealthy and has a very generous tuition policy:
The devil is in the detail. Think of Harvard graduates wanting to have their dream career that doesn’t pay living wage. And why shouldn’t they if they can afford it?
And those who want to found a start up right after graduating college. I am sure their family’s socioeconomic status “greatly” impact on their ability to raise the initial $10M.
For sure. A former student of mine (brilliant! sensitive! caring! ethical!) just graduated from H and is teaching public high school in the Bronx right now (and he’s from a financially disadvantaged family). I’m proud of him for doing what he feels is right (and I agree he’s doing good in the world), but he’s made the decision to have very tight finances for the foreseeable future. Of course I’d love it if jobs like his were better compensated, but he’s pursuing this path with full knowledge of the reality in the US and I’m proud of him.
All my children “anticipated” getting help from me which is a whole lot different from actually getting it (which they didn’t because they had jobs upon graduation). Really most kids expect it because that is exactly what has been happening for the last 22 years of their lives. Reality can be a shock.
Teaching in a public high school in the Bronx is certainly undercompensated as compared to some other things a recent Harvard graduate might be doing, but when my daughter was teaching in a public high school in the Bronx 8-9 years ago she was earning close to the median for her class at a similar college in tougher economic times. From an absolute standpoint, teaching public school in the Bronx (or anywhere else in NYC) is not so poorly compensated at the entry level.
A close friend of my other kid’s, from a family mainly living in poverty, also went into public school teaching after graduating from a prestigious LAC. While she was certainly aware that it was a less lucrative career path than most of her college classmates were choosing, from the perspective of her family it was a solid middle-class, professional occupation that didn’t involve turning your back on your family and your community.
I know any number of 20-somethings who take risks with their careers in order to do good in the world. It absolutely affects their level of current consumption, and how they live in the world now. They are self-supporting. But they know that when they want to buy a house, there will be money for that, and there will also be money for their children’s education. I wonder how people like that responded to the Harvard survey. Did they admit that family wealth gave them the ability to earn less now?
OTOH, 84% graduate debt free. Not too shabby.
Huh? What does this mean, exactly?
Those who came from financially disadvantaged families may be better able to manage living on a middle income pay like that of a public school teacher compared to those who grew up in $300k income families that spent to provide a luxurious status symbol lifestyle but still complained about not making ends meet because of taxes, high cost of living, financial aid “donut hole”, etc… The latter may feel that they “need” additional parental support in order to be able to take a “low paying” job after college graduation.
On the other hand, those who came from $300k income families may have parental financial support, seed money for entrepreneurship (and/or a network of wealthy potential backers), and the “sheen” (read: cultural signifiers, comportment, language habits, dress style, social skills, shared interests) that allows one to easily blend in with the ruling class in corporate jobs (esp. the finance industry), or even trust funds. I know which group I’d prefer to be in.
No surprises here.
Back in the last century when I graduated from my ivy-peer alma mater, family income was absolutely determinant in what my classmates and I ended up doing.
@happymomof1, same here. My classmates who majored in art history and went to work for a museum or Sotheby’s were usually from very well-to-do families. But, so were many who went into i-banking or wealth management. Back in the day, connections and proper etiquette mattered a lot in those fields (probably still do). Middle/upper middle class kids often went into engineering or law or got PhDs or MDs or MBAs.
We have a number of very well-to-do friends whose kids attended HYP or Williams or Wesleyan or Penn or Brown … and then go into things like teaching or do-gooding NGOs. (Very few of these families have only $300K in income). But, the teaching kid then writes a book (with publicity help from well-connected family and friends) and then applies to grad school or does a startup. The kid who goes into politics later decides he wants to go into business and gets introduced by family friends to a wealthy family office where he transitions from policy-related work to business-related work and then to business school and then a private equity job. In such cases, parental support both provides guidance (I’ve been asked a number of times to counsel friends’ kids on careers and career changes) and connections enables the changes or risk-taking – even if no subsidy is given. The kid for a lower income family going into teaching may have less capacity to switch if he/she gets bored (as has happened to several of my son’s friends) or frustrated.
Crazy talk! Who needs parental support? I got a small loan of a million from my uncle and I’m doing just fine.
@marvin100 - Hat’s off and kudos to your former student. It is nice to see a few people graduating from the Harvard country club and charm school who are interested in doing something that will actually help the world and contribute to society than just merely becoming filthy rich Wall Street vultures as is the aspiration of most of their graduates.
My kids didn’t have to go to Harvard to be exceptional. #1 never needed $1 after graduating in economics from Chicago. Got a job in business right away and (while making several job changes) has earned real money since then.