Having spent so many years of my life studying and then working in higher education, I’ve learned a lot about the ups and downs of getting through school. One of my earliest research interests as a graduate student was the link between socioeconomic status and educational attainment. I was first introduced to the income-education link through something called Literacy Studies.
Literacy Studies is a very broad field that easily overlaps with other fields, such as education, sociology, and public policy studies to name a few. I read a lot of education research because that was my field, but other fields come up with the same facts. Time and again, studies find that students from lower socio-economic households (many of whom are also of color) are more likely to struggle in school, both personally and academically. It can begin early and continue into high school and even college. The reasons are many, only some of which really fall into literacy learning. School just happens to be a place where some things can be measured.
In university settings, terms like under-prepared and under-represented may be used to describe students with various “risk” factors. In addition to household income, universities often consider entrance test scores, parents’ level of education, and race and ethnicity because all of them have some link to retention and graduation rates. Even the best and brightest high school students can struggle with the transition to college. For students without adequate preparation in high school, for students without economic support, for first generation students, college can feel even more foreign and overwhelming, especially a university. For some students, getting in is only half the battle.
Thankfully, many universities have support programs in place. Summer bridge programs, special admissions programs, mentoring programs, developmental courses (a term I hate, but don’t have a better one) and other supportive services exist to help potentially at-risk students succeed. There are even programs for adult students who meet certain eligibility guidelines. These programs provide much more than academic assistance. They provide access to a university education for students that might not have it otherwise.
But as funding for higher education (all levels of education) continues to dry up or be re-routed to pay for corporate interests, I can’t help but wonder what will happen to the programs and services that help the less fortunate. Even if college support programs survive the next storm, one has to wonder about the state of k-12 education. If public elementary and secondary education continues to be slashed, it won’t matter what does or doesn’t exist at a university. We are headed down a bad road, one that will create even deeper divisions in access to higher education and further the social divisions we already battle. How about books not bombs for a change!
