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- #Pomona college scholarships for incoming freshman series#

In the end, high-achieving students from the bottom socioeconomic quartile – despite their equal academic potential – are only one-third as likely to enroll in selective colleges as academically similar students from the top socioeconomic quartile. And when they are admitted, low-income students matriculate at lower rates than higher income students because they lack financial resources or do not feel they belong at such colleges.
#Pomona college scholarships for incoming freshman series#
When low-income students do apply to selective institutions, they face additional barriers because the admissions processes at such institutions are built on a series of preferences that reduce the chances of high-achieving, low-income students gaining admission. Tenth grade students in the top academic quartile nationwide are only half as likely to apply to a selective college if they come from a poor family compared to a wealthy one. As documented in the 2016 Cooke Foundation report, “True Merit: Ensuring Our Brightest Students Have Access to Our Best Colleges and Universities,” the result is a system of postsecondary education that is highly stratified by socioeconomic class (Exhibit 1, page 2). As a result, there are 24 wealthy students for each low-income student at these elite schools. At our nation’s most selective colleges*, a mere three percent of incoming freshmen come from families in the bottom income quartile, while 72 percent come from families in the wealthiest quartile. This undeniable fact undermines the proposition that our higher education system is a meritocracy at its core. Sadly, even our nation’s most academically able students have difficulty being admitted to the most selective institutions. This is true at all levels of America’s higher education institutions. A student’s chances of gaining admission to college, however, are often based more on parental wealth than the student’s achievements. Today a college degree is the ticket to a good job and the gateway to economic advancement. This report is a very excellent start.įounding Director, the Arizona State/Georgetown UniversityĪcademy for Innovative Higher Education Leadership
#Pomona college scholarships for incoming freshman how to#
Recruit classes and how to help students afford a college degree. The demographics of the nation demand that colleges and universities think differently about how to Out a road map for institutional leaders everywhere to follow in order to expand opportunities for Their stories are outlined in this report from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, which lays Plenty of institutions strayed from that pack and found success in recruiting and retaining low-income Programs at a breakneck pace, all in an effort to boost revenue, enrollment, and ultimately, rankings. It meant following the herd in higher education and adding amenities and new academic Playbook that called for discounting tuition for high-caliber students, whether they needed the money That will require higher education institutions to consider new approaches to admissionsĪnd financial aid and make tradeoffs many institutions have been unwilling to make up to this point.įor too many institutions, the last two decades have been about following an enrollment management That access to a college education and completion of a degree is an opportunity based on talent, and Have any hope that the next generation will be better educated than today’s workforce, we must ensure The jobs of the future increasingly require some sort of postsecondary education. Today, in 21 states, more than half of the children enrolled in K-12 schools come fromįamilies making less than $40,000 a year, according to the Southern Education Foundation. The poverty rate in the United States worsens as you move down

What’s more worrisome for the future is that students in the pipeline toĬollege are needier than ever before. Someone goes to college and- more important-whether that person graduates, is dependent almostĮntirely on family income. For generations, higher education was the great equalizer in society and a pillar of the Americanĭream: the college degree was the ladder into good jobs and the middle class for students from lower-incomeīut that dream is no longer a reality for growing numbers of financially needy students.
