Articles

Colleges Too Weighted To Wealthy

Opinion
April 29, 2004

In Atlanta last week, Dartmouth College president James Wright said the final test of a successful liberal arts education is "a life well lived." Considering the prosperous backgrounds of students at colleges such as Dartmouth, many of them enjoy "well-lived" lives long before they set foot on their Ivy League campuses.

As The New York Times reported this week, the rising costs and demanding admission requirements at the nation's prestigious colleges are turning them into upper-class enclaves. The University of Michigan, for example, found that more freshmen this year have parents earning at least $200,000 a year than have parents earning below the national median of $53,000.

The Higher Education Research Institute found that 40 percent of this year's freshmen at the 42 most selective state universities hail from families making more than $100,000, up from about 32 percent five years ago. In 1985, 46 percent of freshmen at the 250 most selective U.S. private and public colleges came from the top-earning households, according to institute data. By 2000, that percentage had grown to 55.

When college admissions favor wealthy applicants, the question becomes whether the process measures merit or advantage. Affluent parents not only enjoy the edge of enrolling their children in the best public and private schools, but they also can pay for prep classes and summer programs that boost test scores. They can send their children to study French in Paris and marine biology in Maui. Their children don't have to work during the summer and can devote their breaks to unpaid internships at law firms or touring the world's great museums.

Colleges such as Dartmouth say they look for diversity across the spectrum, including socioeconomic backgrounds. Wright points out that 16 percent of all Dartmouth students are the first generation in their families to attend college. And Harvard announced it's giving full scholarships to any students from families with incomes below $40,000.

But poor students -- consigned to the nation's lowest-performing schools -- remain at a disadvantage in meeting the rigorous admission standards at these academic powerhouses. Schools have to find ways to recognize the potential in students never given a chance rather than rewarding only the students never denied one.

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