The Diploma Divide Analysis

Through this recent recession the gap for financial aid has become increasingly large due to the fact that colleges are basing some of their applications by their financial situation. This in turn creates widening on lower to middle class families who cannot send their children to school because the cost are too great to bear with large amounts of financial aid. The wealthy students are not only being accepted to these pricy private universities but are being given grant and aid so that they can make it through. The poorer students are not even given the chance to attend those school not because of their brain but because of their lack of funding. In today’s society were the upper class has become very distant to the middle and

The first determinant of one’s fate is their family’s background. Almost none of the children from low-income families made it through college. With the expenses of college today, I’m actually not surprised by that statistic. Of the children from low-income families, only 4 percent had a college degree at age 28, compared to 45 percent of the children from higher-income backgrounds. "That 's a shocking tenfold

The American student experience is much different depending on a variety of factors. Students living in poverty or low income households are not receiving enough support in their education to end the perpetuating cycle that is poverty. First, noting that a student living in a household with a parent or guardian with less education will be more likely to live in a poverty stricken area. Rank and Hirschl (1999) argue that if the head of the household has less than 12 years of education, the student has a higher chance of experiencing poverty compared to a household with more than 12 years of education. With these students living in poverty stricken areas and attending schools that do not have the funding to provide support, it is much more difficult to get the education that they would need to get out of poverty.

With the growing importance of higher education, more people than ever are attending college. According to a middle-class parent, “[Higher education] seen as a means of developing a career and getting secure employment.” (30, Higher Education, social class and social mobility) Moreover, “parents believe that their children need a university education to get on in life… over the past decades (parents) fearful that without a degree their children will be in danger of downward social mobility. (32, Higher

Colleges are noticing a drop in students’ interest in a higher education, because it forces them to fall into poverty. Obtaining a higher education is a dream of many working class citizens, but the price to go to a choice college is not available economically. The majority of students use some type of student loan, they have become the norm for attending college (Johnston, Roten 24). College is becoming unaffordable to many lower class students. With tuition prices this high, students are backing out of school and looking for jobs that only require a high school diploma. Student loans should help people, but it is only hurting them because they feel like they can never repay it. Especially since student debt continues to rise. “Student loan debt rose by 328 percent from $241 million in 2003 to $1.08 trillion in 2013, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York” (Johnston, Roten 25).

Also, with most low income students coming from backgrounds of working parents, they are not given the privilege to see all the benefits of obtaining their education to build their life in a great career. As wonderfully stated by Bellin, “At a time when social mobility has stalled and the poorest are still suffering the effects of the last recession, investing in college access for students from the lowest socioeconomic backgrounds should be a priority.” (134). When students are shown the importance of education, instead of just hearing about it, they are more likely to understand the benefits and continue on that path and pass their knowledge down to their children. All the lowest socioeconomic class needs is a boost in that positive direction to start the domino effect, so why do we choose to unethically give the cold shoulder to the class that currently has the most need for help and would benefit from it the

In the article Race, Poverty, and SAT Scores: Modeling the Influence of Family Income on Black and White High School Students' SAT Performance, hypothesizes the relationship of race, wealth, and parental education as predictors of achievement for African Americans and Caucasians on SAT's. The study utilizes participants of a 2003 high school junior and senior class members cohort in the United States. The ethnic profile of the member's records respectively recognizes 54% of the group as female and 69% White, with 11% Black. Of this sample 59% of the Black test takers were women, and 54% of the White sample were women ages 15-19 years of age. (p. 9) Researchers, Dixon-Román, Everson, & McArdle, analyze data from the College Board's Student Descriptive Questionnaire as an appraisal

The issue that surrounds low-income students and college success is that the rich kids are holding them back. The students who have low income are not graduating at the rate of the rich kids who can afford school. The rich kids tend to get a better knowledge in school because of their money. The poor students are not given the equal education as the rich, so the poor is really not prepared for the next step. Some of these low income students who work hard and do well in high school sometimes make it in college. Low- income students should be given the right to graduate at a higher rate, it will give the poor a boost to continue to work hard and make it to college.

In the article, “For the Poor, the Graduation Gap Is Even Wider Than the Enrollment Gap” by Susan Dynarski explains how the lower and upper class enroll in college at different rates, as well as graduate. A program was started known as the Educational Longitudinal Study. A study of dividing quartiles based on their parent’s educational background showed that parents with lower incomes were more likely to contain unskilled jobs compared to the higher income family containing manager positions. However, after 13 years, studies showed that only 14 percent of the less fortunate students and 60 percent of the fortunate students achieved their bachelors. By their late 20s tests also showed that 74 percent of wealthy students achieved their four-year

The more money and well-off a family is, generally the better education their children will have. This is due to the fact that tutors, extra programs, summer camps, private schooling, etc. are expensive and only available to those who can afford it. This illustrates that this nation does not have an even playing field of opportunities for students. (“Class in America-2006” pg. 155, Gregory Mantsios)

In Christopher Hayes article Twilight of the Elites the author puts into perspective the inequality low-income students face. The author argues that the test prep industry is a booming multi million-dollar business; the best way to predict a student’s score on standardized test is to look at the child’s parent income. The more money the parent’s have the more money they can contribute to tutoring and test prep materials. It’s quite unfortunate that children from low-income families are left out of the loop it is an unfair disadvantage. Children from low-income families have just as much capability to thrive however; the resources and tools needed for them are not there. The system is set up in away that the upper class will always make

A new report shows that lower-income kids are at a sharp disadvantage when it comes to college admissions at high end universities. In an article on npr.org breaks it down into 5 reasons why lower-income kids are disadvantaged. Firstly, colleges look for any parents or grandparents that might of gone to the school (legacy preferences). Secondly they look to see if you visited the campus (demonstrated interest). Next, early acceptance plays a big role in chances of getting accepted (early decision). Than, weighted GPAs are considered higher (overweight GPAs). Finally, the college will look for athletic recruitment or scholarships (Athletic recruitment and scholarships). (5 Ways Elite-College Admissions Shut Out Poor Kids) If you are child from a family that is in the lower class or you come from a city where public schools are lacking in the resources to help you, than you are at a disadvantage at getting accepted. These families and cities are suffering from a lack of economic and cultural capital to make their residents into elite colleges. This means that they don 't have enough money or knowledge to make it in. This leads to what is called class stratification, where people are stuck in the class they are born into. The world makes it hard for these people to move up, and as the article points makes it easy for the higher class to stay up.

Berg, Gary A. “Low-income Students and the Perpetuation of Inequality.” Higher Education in America. Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate Pub., 2010. Print. This source is scholarly and I found it outside of class using the online Chattanooga State databases. This publication discusses how higher education is significantly harder for low income students. There are many types of disadvantages in school that Berg suggests. From racial inequality, gender, single parents, to crime and drugs in the household. Unfortunately, most of the things that Berg lists, all groups have one distinct thing in common; and that is Income Inequality (96). It’s not

Smith (2015) stated that poor children have been found to suffer more from various physical and psychological disorders than their peers with more financial stability. Additionally, poor children has a lower success rate, and a slow adjustment to school years and beyond. For most minimum wage earners, especially in some southern states, the reason for not seeking higher education, is more of a generation ideology. Either college cannot be afforded due to low income, or since their parents or grandparents didn’t go to college, they feel that it is not necessary. On the other hand, maybe their experience with school attended as adolescents didn’t prepare them for higher education. The Hechinger Report (2016) stated that Southern states have been cutting spending on higher education, which forces higher tuition fees, making colleges and universities unaffordable for minimum wage earners and their

Low income students face a number of financial, geographical, social, cultural and institutional vulnerabilities when choosing if and where they will attend postsecondary education. Higher achieving students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds apply, enroll, and complete postsecondary education at lower rates than students from higher income quartiles. Lower income students also apply to and attend less selective and competitive institutions in comparison to higher income students, a phenomenon known as undermatching. Undermatching is more prevalent among low income students whose parents did not attend postsecondary education, are from rural communities, who lack access to college counselling, and advice on the college application and financial aid process. This undermatching could result in further disadvantages to these lower income students such as, lower earnings from employment, longer completion times, lower graduation rates and weaker career and life aspirations. A series of policy and institutional interventions or reforms would better support low income students, and narrow the access gap that is occurring. A comparison between the United States and Canada proves some similarities, and