Ummm….read the article. There are not fewer in total, but they have a lower likelihood of admission with the same grades/scores. That’s what the whole article was about, they controlled for various factors. |
I quoted a post that said those kids are the ones missing, which would imply there are fewer of them. |
Wrong. Your ignorance is stunning and hilarious. The vast majority (85%) of male college athletes play baseball, basketball, football, soccer, cross country / track, and wrestling. These are not rich kid sports. Lacrosse, Golf, Hockey, Tennis, Volleyball, Water Polo etc. are only 15%. And I don't even agree you have to be wealthy to play lacrosse (which is most of the 15%) so that's being generous to your argument. The number of athletes in "very expensive" sports is totally trivial. Fencing (about 1,400 men and women), Sailing (about 1,600 men and women), Equestrian (about 2,000 men and women), Squash (about 1,000 men and women). https://scholarshipstats.com/varsityodds |
Exactly. The narrative is to suggest URMs are the preferred groups but this study shows the wealthy are. |
Your stats don’t appear to be limited to the highly selective colleges we’re discussing. We’re talking about the Ivy League, not the SEC. |
+1000 Yes, the notion that full pay students are not "super smart and studious" is wrong. There are plenty of really smart, studious, motivated high income students. Most have grown up in a place of privilege and have had tutoring and outside help the moment they show any signs of a struggle. They get SAT/ACT tutoring before they take the first real test. They also have grown up expecting that the natural path after 12th grade is to enter a 4 year university, often times dreaming of their families various alma maters. Sure there are rich kids who are not that smart and who coast thru life on the family coattails, but that is not the norm. And yes, universities would find it much easier to not go after as many first gen/low income students....it is a lot of work to ensure that those students succeed at college and graduate in 4 years....when the kids have no influence at home that can help them understand what college is about and the kids are truly struggling with how to buy books or ensure they have enough money for food. |
So what exactly do you propose a university eliminate or reduce to charge lower tuition? Most 80k+ schools have smaller class sizes---so would you prefer your kid sit in lectures with 300-500 kids for most of their classes? That way they can fire 1/3 of the professors. Let's go back to 1 cafeteria on campus for the 6K undergrads and make it just a normal college cafeteria like we had 30+ years ago.....2 entrees, salad bar, cereal and 1 dessert option for each dinner. No specialty dining or options because those truly cost money and it's much cheaper to run a basic cafeteria in one place everyone just has to walk 20 mins to get to. Forget the new chemistry labs---kids can squeeze 100 into the lab space for their Orgo Chem lab instead of 25---more partners, less learning for you to do hands on. I suppose I lived without shuttle busses on my campus 30+ years ago, so kids can just walk the 1.5 miles from one end to the other even at -5 degrees and 11pm, same for the campus security/safe walk---we lived without it, kids can today as well. Yes they can cut some administration salaries, but the fact is universities cost a lot to run. Dorms cost more than apartments because they are not cheap---the RAs/RHD/services provided to help kids on campus cost money. Maintaining old dorms is expensive as well. |
+1 Always amazes me at the DCUM people complaining that they make $175K and how terrible it is that they can't afford college, when there are plenty of people living on $65-75K. If college is important to you, then you can find a way to save. If you were making $100K 10 years ago and now make $175K, then you could have been saving that extra amount each year and not let your lifestyle increase. Instead you played keeping up with the Joneses. |
Or maybe they started finally saving for their retirement after paying for day care and their own student loans? |
How are they "discriminated" against? There are still families in that range who manage to send their kids to $80K universities? How? Ones who have made it a priority and have saved for it. And others who don't care, smartly realizing that it does NOT matter where their kid attends so they save to pay for state schools and put the rest into retirement for themselves. But if you are making $150K, you could choose to live like you make $75K (plenty around you do, in fact most do) and save the rest. But you Chose not to do that. You need to get your head out of your ass and realize that you are much more privileged than most people. Most living on $75K or less per year would do almost anything to be making $150-200K. |
THIS^^^^ People need to recognize they are NOT Entitled to an Elite/T25 education. Just like most things in life, there will be plenty of things you can't afford or are unable to do. Life is about choices. Luckily with college, there are literally over 4000 universities in this country, many many many of them are affordable to most people. SO the great news is anyone who wants it can get a good education. VA has over 10 great public universities, all but 3 (W&M, UVA, VATech) of them are accessible to most good students and many excellent CC that can be an extremely affordable path towards a 4 year degree. |
Also a number of those sports are "rich kid sports." Soccer, baseball, and XC are just from your list. The first two have unfortunate pay-to-play models in the US. Both sports do have a number of programs to try to improve though. |
The authors of this opinion piece want the NESCAC to lead in eliminating admissions preferences for athletes: https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/views/2023/07/24/end-admissions-preferences-athletes-opinion
I think the coaches need to do a better job recruiting from a variety of places and looking for potential versus the best as a junior or senior in high school but eliminating any preference when at least certain sports are key parts of campus community life is extreme. |
You need to read the article, they are clearly discriminated against. They are talking about admission rates for students with the same profiles, with the only variable being family income. This is not about choosing to attend/pay. |
Once again, life is all about choices. If you choose to take $200K in student/parent loans for your own education, then you need a plan to pay them off before you have kids. Or at least delay having kids by 3-4 years while you go gazelle intense on getting rid of debt---keep driving that college beater and living in a college style apartment and not taking vacations. You dont' just get to live the fancy adult life without a worry for your debt you took on. Or if you choose to have kids before the debt is paid down, then you live in a smaller, less costly home that you can afford. And by afford I mean continue to pay off the principal on your loans, pay all expenses/mortgage and still save for retirement. I cannot fathom taking a trip to Hawaii or Jamaica if I was not saving for retirement or college at a decent level. I would not own anything beyond a basic vehicle until I was able to do that saving either. I got married and we paid off all our student loans and saved for our first house in a 5 year timeframe. We bought a house we could afford with only 1 of our salaries, so we could still save the 2nd salary. Worked towards saving for future cars so that we would need only a small loan or no loan---that meant driving them for 7-8 years and saving the monthly payments after the first 3 years and the car was paid off. Then we waited 3 more years before having kids. Basically, you need to learn to define needs and wants in a truthful manner. Then you do not get wants until you have fully funded all needs---and in my book retirement and college savings are needs, so we prioritize them over vacations and the like. Fact is, if you were living on $100K 10 years ago, you can still be living on only $110K anything extra could be put towards savings---but most don't do that |