The elitism of Ivy League schools has fallen under a critical eye as low-income and first-generation students organize.
Previously, students have protested along lines of race and gender, but now the preponderance of class inequality has pushed students to confront how to expand opportunity, according to The Atlantic.
Access is limited and completion rates are lower for those students.
“After six years, only 11 percent of low-income, first-generation students graduate. The figure is better (25 percent) for first-generation students who are not low-income, but this graduation rate is still less than half of the level for students who are not low-income and not first-generation (54 percent),” Richard D. Kahlenberg wrote.
Traditionally, the elitism of the Ivy League wasn’t an accident but a feature. Admission to the Ivy League wasn’t a path for the poor to socioeconomic advancement; it was a process of grooming for the self-described elite. As higher education has changed, so have the expectations of who should comprise the student body.
The problem isn’t limited to the Ivy League, either. Poor students make up a smaller proportion of college students today than in the early 1990s. If Ivy students can improve college access – and completion rates – for poor students, those changes could filter into colleges across the country.
The tactics could be similar to how racial minorities fought discrimination. With racial affirmative action threatened by a pending Supreme Court decision, colleges could pivot to income-based considerations.
“Such a decision would be seen by many liberals as a major defeat, but it would likely spur universities to create new forms of affirmative action that look at economic disadvantage, including first-generation status,” Kahlenberg wrote.
Colleges have pandered with empty phrases about “diversity,” but soon, students might force its realization.
