Ranks of Poor Are Thin at Top Colleges
WASHINGTON — The most "underrepresented" group of Americans at the nation's top colleges and universities is not African Americans or Latinos, but students from low-income families, according to a little-noted report released last week.
Only 3% of freshmen at the 146 most selective colleges and universities come from families in the bottom quarter of Americans ranked by income. About 12% of the students on these campuses are black or Latino.
"There is even less socioeconomic diversity than racial or ethnic diversity at the most selective colleges," said Anthony P. Carnevale, vice president of the Educational Testing Service and a co-author of the study. "There are four times as many African American and Hispanic students as there are students from the lowest [socioeconomic status] quartile."
The Supreme Court debate over the admissions policies at the University of Michigan put a spotlight again on the fact that African Americans and Latinos are "underrepresented" at the upper reaches of higher education, even after three decades of affirmative action.
Carnevale's study looked at who attends the nation's most selective four-year colleges, as ranked by Barron's Guide to Colleges.
Together, blacks and Latinos make up 28% of the nation's 18-year-olds, but they each comprise 6% of the entering classes at these schools.
The picture is bleaker for those who come from the lower half of the income spectrum, regardless of their race or ethnic heritage. Only 10% of the entering class at these sought-after schools is made up of students from the bottom half of the income scale, Carnevale found.
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Give 'Strivers' a Chance
Carnevale is among a small group of reformers who has pressed the idea of "class-based affirmative action." Public opinion surveys show most people, even if they are skeptical of affirmative action based on race, strongly support giving extra help to students who have overcome disadvantages, he said.
"Opportunity and upward mobility is what America is all about. Americans want strivers to be given a chance," he said. "But we don't like to talk about class anymore. We know from our testing that a lot of kids out there are qualified to go to these schools, but they don't, and the truth is, nobody much gives a damn about it."
The cost is one barrier. Federal aid for low-income students has not kept pace with the rising costs of higher education.
