Opening Doors: How Selective Colleges and Universities Are Expanding Access for High-Achieving, Low-Income Students

Abstract

Today a college degree is the ticket to a good job and the gateway to economic advancement. A student’s chances of gaining admission to college, however, are often based more on parental wealth than the student’s achievements. This is true at all levels of America’s higher education institutions. This research shows that when high-achieving, low-income students attend selective institutions, they perform equally well academically, earning similar grade-point averages, and graduating in equal numbers. Denial of admission to low-income students who can do the work is a profound violation of these students’ fundamental human dignity. By denying them college admission, society is denying them and their families perhaps their only opportunity for social and economic advancement.