An injustice that isn’t talked about much once you are in college is something called the excellence gap. Students that come from low-income families see college as unaffordable and as something that isn’t in their future from a young age. This is all due to the price of attending college. Students from a lower income are eight times less likely to graduate college than those in a middle to higher class. Sure there is financial aid but it still doesn’t completely fill the gap of the amount of money they need to be able to go. Even coming from a middle-high class myself, I didn’t know much about financial aid or understand how it works. There needs to be more information provided to students, especially those from lower class communities, about how financial aid works. Schools need to do better at providing aid to fill the gaps from federal and state financial aid. Institutions should prioritize the grants and scholarships they give out on a need base. From the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, I learned that 45 percent of students in the highest income bracket received an average of $5,800 in aid that exceeded their need. That is money that is just sitting around for these students when it could be providing an education and filling in a financial aid for students who need it. It is an injustice that institutional aid is more likely to be provided to higher income students than lower income students, because institutions see them as a “better fit” so they provide more aid to get them to come to their school. The government and system needs to put something in place to prioritize aid to those who need it rather than exceeding aid for those who don’t need it. The system needs to do better at eliminating the financial burden lower income students feel when they are trying to achieve a higher education. Attending college should not be a right only for students who come from a higher income family. Institutions and the government need to do better for everyone, not just students who have come from a middle to high class family.
In today’s society, not attending college automatically puts you in this subaltern group and of a lower status in society. You get looked down upon by society and you automatically get stereotyped as “you must not have been smart enough to get into college.” You are limited on job opportunities because someone else will get the job because they have a degree when you are just as capable as doing the job to the same level of standard. There are people who think that you will never amount to anything without a college education. A college education is not something that is easily accessible. You either have to come up with thousands of dollars quickly or get loans that you will be paying off for years. A college education does not amount to one’s worth.
Sources: https://www.jkcf.org/research/making-college-affordable-providing-low-income-students-with-the-knowledge-and-resources-needed-to-pay-for-college/
I really enjoyed reading your diary and I feel that I have learned so much that will be very beneficial to know throughout college. I like how you pointed out that although there is financial aid for students that are in need of this, the information that is provided for us students is limited. I liked the evidence that you used regarding that 45% percent of students in the high-income bracket received aid that they necessarily did not need, and or exceeded their need. Also, I agree with the fact that schools should be putting out help and information about finacial aid and how one can access this.
Your post is very thought provoking and relevant. Though I agree with many of your points, I think to say that those without a college degree are subaltern is perhaps an overstatement. Today’s job market is more cutthroat that ever before and a college degree is often an assumed prerequisite, but that is not to say that those without a college degree can’t find jobs or be considered as candidates. I do agree though, that college should be more accessible, especially to financially stressed individuals. The financial aid process is rarely thorough enough to accurately match a student’s needs, leaving students with years of debt in an without the income support the cost of living as well as paying off debts. Reform is needed to protect students’ futures. I very much agree that financial aid should be transparent and easy to use, as I’ve had issues with understanding my own financial aid situation in the past.
This is a very interesting post and I definitely agree that college needs to become more accessible to prospective lower-class students. Unfortunately, many schools seem to prioritize possible future alumni donations over the positive impact they could be having by helping lower-class students become competitive in the workforce. I completely agree that there needs to be more focus on and information about financial aid; it still confuses me too!