Low Income Students Attending College

In the United States, 69.2% of high graduates go on to attend college the next fall semester, a number that is on the rise since the fall of 2000. While this all seems very positive, there is a greater issue going unnoticed beneath these statistics. How many of the students attending college are lower-income students who have always been attending any higher, education than their higher income counterparts? Are we as a society and government doing enough to allow and encourage students to pursue a higher education? While society continues to our more emphasis on the importance of college many low-income students still lag behind their high-income counterparts. As of 2014 only 53.5% percent of students that qualify as low-income will attend

Expect with the rise of college tuition $5000 doesn’t cover enough of the cost, consequently only about 30% maximum to justify attending and spending four years not working. Another possible solution is awarding more scholarships to low-income students. These scholarships would be based on financial need instead of merit-based accomplishment. These would give these low-income students the opportunity to have motivating competition and still attend without the academic record to have a merit-based scholarship. While it may seem like a good idea many smaller colleges depend on the money coming from full tuition paying students. Large universities may have the money, but their colleges compete at an intense, high level that could be difficult for students who aren’t able to meet the merit-based requirements. This plan could be targeted and effective towards a small group but can provide a strong solution to the sheer number of low-income students not attending

The first part starts at a much younger age for the children, starting at about 12, right when they start to enter middle school. An increase in public school funding along with public programs over the summer that help continue the children’s learning despite school being out. This can also help feed children who sometimes rely on schools to provide at least one meal a day during the school year. Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers talks about the statistics of how low-income students have been dropping reading scores versus their high-income students despite starting at the same point. The next part of my solution is to help low-income students attended college by lowering the cost of college tuition so that received scholarships can cover more of the cost and work to cover the cost of college is a more attainable