<p>Given most Ivies and their peers have half of their students paying full, the average income and the income distribution of the families there are both out of whack with that of the general population. Do we have examples of good colleges whose average income of families there is at least similar to the average income of the general population? How about Cal, UIUC or UVA? Which band of USNWR starts to reflect general income distribution?</p>
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<p>I’m curious as to why this is a concern? I’m a first generation kid from Detroit (parents worked in chinese restaurants) so definitely lower income. But I went to an HYP and it didn’t phase me a bit. Nor did I feel funny that people around me were mostly decidedly upper middle class and beyond.</p>
<p>If you’re going to search for “good colleges” then know that they are destinations for those who are upwardly mobile or those who come from families that are stronger finance wise. I suspect most of them will always be populated by kids who on average are from the upper 50% of the income band.</p>
<p>I don’t mean to be flip. But the general income distribution of my kids’ eventual college isn’t something that concerns me – high, low, in-between.</p>
<p>^Not a concern. I’m just curious how much effect in higher education is there after supposedly years of leveling the playing field for the financially disadvantaged.</p>
<p>I’m sure there has been some leveling, but it’s probably hard to measure from income level at universities. It may even have gotten worse at the extremes. College attendance has gone up to about 70%, but I bet most of those 30% are low income, including all those that drop-out. THe effects of income disparity is more likely found at the secondary level. No study, just my belief.</p>
<p>So where half the kids’ families earn $50k or less (the US family median income being 50k)? I just don’t think you’ll find a college that reflects the income distribution of the US as a whole, given kids at the lower half are just much less likely to attend college at all.</p>
<p>^Any good colleges that comes close? Or, phrased in relative terms, which good colleges come closest in reflecting the income distribution of the population at large?</p>
<p>Berea? Actually they are probably poorer than average. [Admission</a> Requirements | Prospective Students - Berea College](<a href=“http://www.berea.edu/prospectivestudents/admissioninfo/requirements.asp]Admission”>http://www.berea.edu/prospectivestudents/admissioninfo/requirements.asp)</p>
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<p>On average, kids of upper-income parents are more intelligent and better-prepared academically than kids of lower-income parents.</p>
<p>How about Olin College and Cooper Union?</p>
<p>Most colleges are well above the population average.</p>
<p>Public schools? Flagships, commuter u’s, and community colleges are more likely to represent average income folks. Although a lot of private schools offer excellent financial aid, many middle/lower income people don’t even look at them because of the impression that “PRIVATE schools are for the rich.” </p>
<p>As bovertine and starbright mentioned, lot of people don’t go to college. Families who don’t send kids to college are more likely to be in lower income groups. . .So do you want the “U.S. average income” or “Average among those families sending kids to college,” (which I expect would be higher)?</p>
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<p>Sad state of affair in the land of opportunity, isn’t it?</p>
<p>median FAMILY income in this country, after excluding most too young or old to be expected to have college-age children, is ~$70,000 with ~30% making less than $47,000 per year. $47,000 is relevant as it would be the cut off for pell disbursement to dependent students if all awards were made solely on the basis of income. (these are 2008 numbers.)</p>
<p>of course, these numbers do not include independent students who account for some 60% of pell grants. the difficult question is how many such students you would find at selective colleges.</p>
<p>assuming their numbers are relatively small (or that the commuting adult student population does not have a significant impact on campus culture), the result is that a selective school would probably need to award pell grants to at least a third of its student body to appropriately reflect that portion of the of the overall population. </p>
<p>few top schools (ucla, berkeley and smith) are in this vicinity.</p>
<p>things get tricky on the other end, however, as there is a lack of appropriate data. what we do know is that less than a third of the student body would be able to come from families with income $100,000 or more. this is conceivable at berkeley and ucla, less so at smith. i suspect even berkeley and ucla would be significantly overrepresented at all income cut offs higher than that.</p>
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<p>also, keep in mind that while selective privates do offer significant financial aid to students with need, the vast majority are only able to do so under the presumption that they will be offering it to half the class. that is, a spike in applications from students with significant need would simply result in all but the wealthiest handful of schools becoming more need aware.</p>