SOCIETY perpetuates wealth disparities.To achieve success, it helps to have successful parents. For undergraduate students, money opens up opportunities that poorer students cannot afford. Some students do not solely depend on their parents for college tuition and thereby make larger sacrifices to develop the same resume-building items that impress employers. Society should account for income inequalities by offering more financial resources for extracurricular opportunities and thereby mitigate the implications of cost.
In higher education, the first step is to attend college. Although students receive financial aid, wealthier children have more access to elite, out-of-state institutions. Evaluating the income levels of students enrolling in postsecondary institutions, the National Center for Education Statistics revealed that 14 percent of students that come from households making less than $30,000 attend private four-year universities, as compared to 25 percent of those students in households with income over $60,000.
Once in school, students are bombarded with opportunities to study abroad, get involved with extracurricular organizations, accept internships, etc. Yet all of these activities are expensive and take time away from academics and employment. NCES reports that 17 percent of lower-income students participate in work-study programs, as compared to 3 percent of high family income students. In this time, other students run for leadership positions in clubs and organizations, work for school publications and spend time on academics.
Employers cherish previous experience in internships and leadership roles in organizations. Although these activities better prepare students for the workplace, it is unfair to judge students solely on resume-building items when not all students are entitled to the same privileges.
When students apply to graduate schools or jobs, employers assess applicants' resumes and test scores. The ideal candidate will have a full resume packed with leadership experience and internships, as well as high test scores procured from hours spent in Kaplan's $1,000 prep course. It is unfair to compare these students to the individual who works 20 hours per week and cannot afford any professional help on standardized tests.
In securing jobs, networking also helps students. Greek organizations, for example, give students connections to alumni networks, but once again require membership dues and time. Also, wealthy parents often deal with more top-level and influential employers. The motto "its all about connections" is propaganda to preserve familial wealth.
In the current structure, money perpetuates money. The cycle continues as rich parents produce rich offspring. Society retains extreme wealth disparities and intelligence and merit often succumb to wealth resources.
The task, then, becomes how to eradicate these disparities. A possible solution is to make scholarship and grant programs more accessible to students in lower-level income brackets. To this end, Ladd Flock, director of Arts and Sciences Career Services, said, "we do have more opportunities than in the past for students in need" and commented that there is evidence of "people stepping up and looking for candidates irregardless of where they came from." However, Flock does not believe there are enough resources at this moment to totally alleviate these wealth disparities.
There are tradeoffs in students' lives. For wealthy students, time must be sacrificed between extracurricular activities, social events and academic involvement. In the case of less-fortunate students, decisions become more significant when mommy and daddy don't pay for tuition.
Although money can only go so far, it sure does help to take Kaplan prep courses, network in Greek organizations, attend more esteemed institutions and become involved with extracurricular activities. Scholarships and grant programs allow lower-income students to attain enough monetary resources so that they can also undertake these same endeavors.
Financial resources (i.e. financial aid, scholarships for unpaid internships, travel grants and housing stipends) address the problem of income disparities in higher education. Flock believes these resources have become more prevalent in recent years, and employers are making conscious efforts to find the most qualified, not necessarily wealthiest, students. However, society needs to continue these trends in the workplace, so that it can eradicate opportunity inequalities and ensure job selections based on merit in college, rather than familial wealth.
Michael Behr's column appears Wednesdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at mbehr@cavalierdaily.com.
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