When Malcolm Gladwell, an English native journalist and author for the New Yorker, did the math on the lack of financial aid that Ivy League Schools provided to low-income students, the numbers were shockingly staggered. With the eight Ivy League schools, including Stanford, that are scattered across the nation, there is an estimate of $140 billion that is being spent on various projects at these institutes, including financial assistance for students coming from lower income families.
Gladwell proceeded to look up how many low-income students attend these Ivy Leagues, and the answer came up to be 11,414 students who were getting the necessary financial aid assistance that the university would then provide. These numbers definitely seem staggered. With the 35,000 students whose families make less than $40,000 annually and who scored above the 90th percentile on standardized testing, only about 15,000 even apply to these Ivy Leagues.
With potential so high, why are people deciding to opt out on even giving these institutes of higher learning a chance?
Many people believe they will never get the financial assistance that is necessary for them to attend such a prestigious university, and at times they may be right. Many schools, even those that may seem like they have the money to support low-income students, do not provide full financial aid. Therefore, students who cannot independently afford an Ivy League education but who have the intellectual capability do not even attempt to apply for such high-ranking universities.
Many people would say that this is just the way the system has been set up for as long as we can all remember, yet what is the purpose of a university?
It was created as an institute for higher education, and it has since transcended this term into being a grotesque form of entertainment with things such as building bigger and better football stadiums being valued as more important than funding the education of those who cannot afford it on their own.
I am not saying that this on its own is the only problem with higher education and funding, yet I believe that because there are more students who have the credentials to go to an Ivy League yet do not even apply than there are those who do, that these elitist universities can no longer be considered as the most desired schools to attend.
The reason a school should be desired is not just for its brand new dorms or new entertainment centers; and although the professors are probably more than qualified to enrich the students’ lives with knowledge, to put it bluntly, it’s not worth the cost.
Higher education is not seen as required, but it is pursued by a large sum of people, and there is an increasing number of students who go on to attend graduate schools. In other words, a brand-name label school may look great on your resume, but entering your first year of graduate school debt-free sounds a whole lot better to many people, including me. The reason that Ivy League schools are not seen as desirable is because to many middle-classed families, they are not realistic. Attending an in-state university means that you will not have to file for bankruptcy before you even know what a credit score is.
The bottom line is, the system must change. The intellectual potential of the nation is being wasted because we are not focused on spending our money properly. If these schools are supposed to use this large sum of money that they have properly, their admissions boards should be working hard to recruit the brightest of minds, no matter their financial situation. Only then should an Ivy League truly be considered the best of all the colleges in America.
