Dive Brief:
- In a new report titled "True Merit," the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation shows how it is harder for high-achieving, low-income students to get into elite colleges than it is for other applicants — including legacy students and athletes — and urges a new model.
- WAMU reports the authors suggest a “poverty preference” in admissions that would benefit very high-achieving students from low-income families by giving them credit for overcoming the odds.
- This preference would make up for other considerations of merit like internships, extracurricular activities, or travel abroad that are not necessarily possible for students who have to work outside of school to support their families, for example.
Dive Insight:
The Supreme Court is considering the arguments in a case against the University of Texas at Austin that has the potential to destroy race-based affirmative action programs across the country. While the court could refrain from making a sweeping ruling, some schools are already considering their alternatives. Critics often say affirmative action programs benefit wealthy students of color when it is really lower-income students of all races who need the leg up.
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation report highlights data that shows students from families in the bottom 25% make up just 3% of enrollment in the nation’s most elite schools, while those at the other end of the spectrum make up 72%. The Hechinger Report has found this gap is getting wider. The foundation’s model could be a good first step in a holistic admissions process. It should, of course, be followed up with on-campus supports to make sure students from low-income families feel welcome and can succeed once they enroll.