I keep reading about how wealthy the student body is. How would you describe the atomosphere?

I know so many down-to-earth, super rich people so I know money doesn’t equal materialistic and snobby. However, I also know that there are snooty wealthy people too. Is Elon a comfortable place for someone who is probably considered upper-middle class? I think I read that a large percentage of the students come from families who make over $600,000 a yr. Does that affect the environment?

ETA-my child has grown up in an area where the majority of the people she knows are very wealthy and it’s never been an issue. I was just wondering if it matters more when you’re in college

I hate to bump, but bump…

My daughter is a freshman at Elon. We are not wealthy and my daughter does fine there. She’s fairly thrifty herself though, has a budget & really is careful with how she spends her money. She hasn’t experienced pressure from her friends to go out when she can’t afford it, which was a relief for both of us. A lot of my daughter’s friends have jobs (both on-campus & off) & they are generally pretty aware of & sympathetic to the limitations of others.

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@kempette Thank you! Anything else you can tell me about the students? Any impressions about the general vibe of the school? Again, thanks so much!

There are threads below which address your questions, the most recent ones being “Students at Elon” and “Have any questions - I’m an Elon mom”, among others.

We toured there two years ago. I can’t speak to the general population, but our tour guide was honest when we asked a question and said she had almost transferred. She was having a hard time dealing with what she called many “privileged” people that were not what she had expected. This is only one data point.

@citymama9, there are indeed several threads that discuss this, but I’ll give you my impression. The kids at Elon seem to be a very happy, very involved group of kids. As I said above, a lot of my daughter’s friends have jobs on campus or off. Most of her friends are very involved in clubs, sororities, fraternities, major associations; several are RAs or work in Admissions. Many of her friends have multiple majors or minors- they seem to embrace a work hard/play hard mentality & for the most part seem to be a great group of kids (at least the ones I’ve met). Most importantly to me, they all seem to really look out for each other & take care of each other. There will always be cliques that are snobby, but for the most part my daughter has found it to be a very open & accepting campus.

@kempette that was very helpful. thank you!

My son is a rising sophomore at Elon. He loves it! He has a very diverse group of friends from all walks of life. Some are wealthy, some aren’t. He also is close with a number of international students. There are lots of groups and places to fit in.