Reply to a final warning to high school students in the college admissions game

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The problem with QB and colleges with low income kids is nobody gives them a crash course in social dynamics when you throw $65k kids into a pool where the majority are wealthy and super wealthy.

Lots of focus on academics and traditional college life, but nobody gives the “scared straight” talk about how jarring the different socio-economic strata may be.

There was an article several years back about how one Ivy school (it may have been Princeton) would give FA kids free tickets to student events and what not (that required an entry fee), but you had to wait in a separate line that basically “outed” you as poor.  Well, the poor kids just stopped going until someone in the administration asked.

Also, it was only recently that many of these schools decided that they wouldn’t have students do work study in the dining halls, because it just created a terrible dynamic betweeen rich and poor.

Maybe they are starting to wake up to this…don’t know.[/quote]

I don't think that's Princeton.  They don't charge for any student events.[/quote]

The school profiled solved the problem by eliminating entry fees to events and then just wrapping into the "Fees" charge for Tuition and Fees.  The FA kids were then free, while full pay were still paying, just up-front vs. per event.

I will try to find the article.  Think it was NY Times.[/quote]

I remember one of those NYT articles. It was thoughtful and thought-provoking.

DH and I both benefited greatly from our Ivy & similar educations. Our families were not wealthy, and we were the first to go to “elite” colleges. As a result of that NYT article, we started donating to our schools’ “first generation/low income” programs.

In addition to tuition/housing etc, they all now include the extras to help first gen/low income students blend in a bit more with their peers, socially - the  same new laptop that their classmates tend to have, the mainstream/typical sneakers or boots or North Face winter coat or whatever if they feel more comfortable in the gear that most kids are wearing around campus. Plus money for the random extra fees that most students rarely think about, now done much more subtly than in the past.

Looking back, I had just enough of those things to blend in and feel comfortable. But I know how different my experience might have been/felt if I had not. DH and I are more than happy to pay it forward now. If you or your spouse/partner benefited from attending an elite college, consider checking the school’s website and donating to a program like this. I know Princeton, Brown, and Duke have them - likely others, too. [/quote]

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