PUBLIC institutions of higher learning enroll only 12 percentof their students from the bottom quarter of income in the United States. Sarah Turner, of both the Curry School and the Department of Economics, addressed the opportunities for low income students last Friday as part of an ongoing Curry Speaker series. The University's current efforts to provide opportunities for low-income people are laudable, but it must remain steadfast in its effort and continue to look for ways to improve the status quo.
For our own University, Turner pointed out a strong correlation between geographic representation at the University and income per county. Though Turner admitted "this is a general problem that transcends Virginia," we must first look to improve opportunities for low-income Virginia residents. AccessUVa was designed to do exactly that.
AccessUVa is a program created in 2004 and implemented for the current Class of 2009. According to its mission statement, it seeks to ensure each admitted student "be a part of the UVA experience, regardless of economic circumstance."
Through AccessUVa, high need students receive 100 percent loan-free financial aid, loans are capped at a maximum amount for students not deemed high need and all students receive as much financial aid information as possible. While these steps have built a strong foundation for AccessUVa, there remain steps to be taken in an effort to improve opportunities for low-income students.
In addition to financing, Turner mentioned two other barriers for low income students: information constraints and pre-collegiate achievement and preparation. Information constraints result from low income students not considering the possibility of college lacking access to good college advising.
AccessUVa has worked to correct the problem by sending admissions officers to visit high schools in the far reaches of the state, leading to a 21.6 percent increase in application from low-income students. Pre-collegiate achievement and preparation remains the highest hurdle for low- income students.
AccessUVa should consider pushing admissions towards economic affirmative action for low-income students. They are just as, if not more, deserving of an admissions boost than racial minorities. Low-income students present quite a dilemma for admissions officers.
Low-income students often apply to college with lower test scores than their more affluent suburban peers. Almost certainly, low-income students are burdened by time-consuming jobs and family obligations. Racial minorities do not necessarily face these responsibilities any more than other students. These commitments take valuable time away from low-income students that often affect their ability to compete. With all these factors against low-income students, it is difficult to justify excluding them from affirmative action while continuing affirmative action for racial minorities.
However, AccessUVa has a more subtle responsibility as well. Yvonne Hubbard, chair of the AccessUVa committee, noted that there remains a stark clash between the statistics and the culture. While over 50 percent of students utilize some form of financial aid, the University is known as a "preppy haven," as the Princeton Review describes it. To prevent any angst among low income students about "fitting in," AccessUVa has a cultural hurdle to remove.
No one knows the University quite like current students and recent alumni. The creation of an organization or network of current or former high- need students could be made available to accepted and enrolled high-need students. High-need students would then have resources available to them to ask questions about student life at the University. With these resources, high-need students would understand the University is more than suits and bowties.
In addition to a network for high -need students, other services may prove helpful as well. Evaluative measures, in the form of surveys, have already begun and will continue for at least the next 10 years. These measures signal AccessUVa's commitment to looking beyond just admissions and study how low income students perform during and after enrollment.
In its first year of implementation, AccessUVa has been a tremendous success. Turner noted a jump from 133 to 200 students coming from families with incomes at 200 percent of the poverty line or lower. While a sizable jump, the 200 students represents less than 6.5 percent of first years. AccessUVa's efforts, while commendable, are far from complete.
Rajesh Jain is a Cavalier Daily associate editor. He can be reached at rjain@cavalierdaily.com.
Read More
PATEL: Personal development courses support students beyond the gradebook
By Heer Patel | 4 days agoThe University must rethink its approach to education beyond traditional major-specific requirements and mandate personal development courses.
EDITORIAL: Commercialization threatens U.Va.’s educational mission
By Editorial Board | 5 days agoAfter all, measuring the University’s worth in terms of accrued capital, operational efficiency and numerical rankings molds this space into just another cookie-cutter institution.
YOUNIS: Why every U.Va. student should say yes to English
By Ayat Younis | January 9, 2025Every student at the University, regardless of their primary field of study, can professionally and academically benefit from engaging with the English department.
