Bo Andrews
Could college actually be a place where normal students could find their way to realms of high class? The New York Times isn't very confident in the widening higher education gap and their exploitation of resources demonstrate their idea. In the last couple years the Brookings Institution in Washington has studied the expanding gap of higher education between the wealthy and the less fortunate and the whites and the minorities. Also, the Brookings Institution has shared that African Americans and Hispanics are struggling to gain ground on the number of degrees Asians and whites are earning. Unfortunately, this struggle makes it a lot harder to "better-out" someone with a degree or someone with more credentials. As this gap of higher education increases, the chances for a lower class citizen to work their way to the middle class becomes even harder.
As these graphs show, a college education is VERY valuable to students trying to achieve long term success.
Graph
The most positive and important analysis of this graph is kids. Kids, whose parents were in the bottom fifth of income, have a 19% chance of joining the top fifth class!-- if they earn a degree.
College is the epitome of a changing station. Children have the opportunity to outdo their parents and earn a college degree and make it to the top. Children have the opportunity to follow their parents or...negatively, they have an opportunity to let possibilities zoom past them. As Mr. Stuart Butler, VP of economic studies at the Heritage Foundation explained that the less fortunate kids who earn their degrees are likely to do better than their parents.
Could college actually be a place where normal students could find their way to realms of high class? The New York Times isn't very confident in the widening higher education gap and their exploitation of resources demonstrate their idea. In the last couple years the Brookings Institution in Washington has studied the expanding gap of higher education between the wealthy and the less fortunate and the whites and the minorities. Also, the Brookings Institution has shared that African Americans and Hispanics are struggling to gain ground on the number of degrees Asians and whites are earning. Unfortunately, this struggle makes it a lot harder to "better-out" someone with a degree or someone with more credentials. As this gap of higher education increases, the chances for a lower class citizen to work their way to the middle class becomes even harder.
As these graphs show, a college education is VERY valuable to students trying to achieve long term success.
Graph
The most positive and important analysis of this graph is kids. Kids, whose parents were in the bottom fifth of income, have a 19% chance of joining the top fifth class!-- if they earn a degree.
College is the epitome of a changing station. Children have the opportunity to outdo their parents and earn a college degree and make it to the top. Children have the opportunity to follow their parents or...negatively, they have an opportunity to let possibilities zoom past them. As Mr. Stuart Butler, VP of economic studies at the Heritage Foundation explained that the less fortunate kids who earn their degrees are likely to do better than their parents.
So is College a Changing Station? Yes, college provides a great opportunity to be prosperous as an adult. As recent years' trends have shown it is harder to get to college than it is is to do well.
Grants and financial aid are enourmously helpful to students who have the credentials but not enough money for college. If donors can continue to make contributions and government can draw out more aid, more potential students will be able to experience the oppurtunity to change.
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