Access to College Means Access To Economic Mobility for America’s Underserved
At Baruch College, we use the phrase “the American Dream” a great deal. Indeed, as one of the most diverse institutions of higher education in the country — 70 percent of the student body was born outside of the United States — it is easy to see why “the American Dream” is alive and well here. But what exactly is the American Dream today? How does it work, and what does it mean?
At the heart of the American Dream is economic mobility. It is the belief that the children of poverty and of privilege can end up in the same place; that as long as there is equality of opportunity, one’s starting point in life does not have to be a permanent barrier.
But recent studies indicate that economic mobility may be declining, and the
ability of individuals from underserved backgrounds to rise economically is at serious risk. In fact, the discussion within academia is evolving from racial and gender diversity to socioeconomic diversity, with data showing that economic success in this nation is becoming heavily reliant on one’s ability to afford a college education.
It is no surprise that those with college degrees are more likely to have higher incomes than those who do not. According to the 2002 U.S. Census, “students with a bachelor’s degree can, on average, expect to earn $2.1 million in their lifetimes — at least $900,000 more than those who did not attend college.”
Higher education professionals would be seriously remiss if we believed there is nothing we can do to change this situation. And actions are being taken. I applaud the efforts of Princeton, Emory, Harvard and other private universities to improve access for financially needy students, but the reality is that the vast majority of students completing undergraduate degrees attend public universities. For those of us at institutions that represent the majority, the focus must be on tuition costs, the quality of the educational experience and graduation rates.
First off, tuition needs to be kept affordable at public universities because tuition equals access even in the “affordable” public sector. Over the past decade, tuition rose 47 percent at public, four-year colleges and 42 percent at their private counterparts, according to the College Board. Adding to the burden is the substantial decline of state appropriations for higher education. Forced to take more loans and work longer hours to make ends meet, the children of the working class are finding that a college education is becoming more a test of their endurance than their intelligence.
