We tend to see land grant universities as great equalizers — places where less advantaged students can have a chance for upward mobility and self-actualization. To a great extent they are. There are dedicated professionals in schools like the University of Maine striving to give these students access to the services they need to survive and thrive.
Class differences, however, can’t be ignored, especially since they are widening greatly.
Families differ in income. It’s harder to do well in college if you have to hold down a job. Increasingly we’re not talking about work study. A lot of students have to work grueling, often unpredictable hours at off-campus retail stores and fast-food restaurants. Where student aid packages used to be manageable balances of grants, loans and work study, now they’re increasingly slanted toward loans that have more adverse consequences for students from low-income families.
Loan payments start shortly after graduation. It isn’t easy to find jobs that will cover basics plus loan payments. These jobs tend to be in places with a very high cost of living. Many low-income graduates have no choice but return to impoverished areas with available jobs providing low wages and no benefits.
Not all primary and secondary schools prepare students equally well for post secondary education. Because property taxes remain the predominant means for communities to finance education, kids in relatively affluent systems receive all the perks where their peers in impoverished systems barely get the basics. AP classes can enable students to skip introductory classes. Conversely, less well-prepared students will need to take remedial classes that do not provide degree credits.
[Opinion: How a Maine university is addressing pressing social issues]
Land grant universities face many survival pressures in today’s economy. These pressures, such as to produce a profusion of professional publication research worthy of prestigious journals, are not always compatible with educating poorly prepared students. The best and brightest faculty members who teach in addition to conducting research often draw the plum assignments: working with graduate students or teaching small upper-level classes. Many lower level classes are delegated to graduate students, not all of whom can teach well, despite proven ability in their respective fields.
In addition to lacking adequate funds, low-income families are often deficient in the information necessary for making higher education decisions. Preparing a college savvy student starts well before senior year in high school. The weight of doing so should be on society as a whole rather than just families.
Beginning in kindergarten, schools must share with families the different options available for their children’s futures and the ways to pursue these paths. Qualified guidance counselors at all levels need to have time to get to know their students as individuals, seek out on their behalf and inform them of a wide range of opportunities, and notice signs of distress or difficulty. Incentives should be provided to direct our best and brightest teachers and guidance counselors to the schools where kids face the biggest challenges. We need a lot more programs like Upward Bound that give low-income and first generation students the confidence that they belong at, and can succeed in, college.
In college, we need more grants and fewer loans. As surging numbers of students, including single parents, become food insecure and even homeless, we need to find ways to help with living expenses, which often can be more formidable than tuition and fees. We need professionals linking low-income students up with the rich opportunities and connections enjoyed by their more privileged peers.
For example, many graduates from low-income families need affordable ways of living near good-paying jobs during the early debt repayment, self-establishing years.
If we Americans have courage and integrity, there is so much we can do to equalize the opportunity for less advantaged students to enter and successfully complete college and achieve brighter futures for themselves and their families.
Do we?
Jules Hathaway is the proud mother of three children (and a 15-year-old tuxedo cat) who has just started her first year in the University of Maine’s higher education program.