Fairness and the Future
A decade ago, just 14 percent of freshmen came from families that earned more than $100,000 a year; today, the number is 32 percent--and not all of that can be attributed to inflation.
The terms of financial aid have widened the gap between the elite and the less fortunate because loans, not grants, now make up almost 50 percent of tuition payments. And more and more aid is tied not to need but to merit. This means that those who get the best start in life get even more help than those who get the worst.
The squeeze is really on for middle-class kids. Harvard recently raised the qualifying floor for a free education to families that earn $60,000 a year. Will the middle class be priced out of the Ivy League? Are Ivy League schools once again to become the preserve for the rich and the subsidized poor?
Even worse, we are widening the gap further, given that education is the key to personal prosperity. A College Board survey shows that graduates with bachelor's degrees can expect to earn 70 percent more than a high school graduate over a lifetime; those with master's degrees can expect to earn twice as much; and those with professional degrees can expect to earn nearly 3 1/2 times as much.
There is no excuse for the failure of government at all levels to support public colleges so that every academically qualified student, regardless of income, can go to a college or university. If we fail to ensure that this is so, we will undermine an essential pillar of our democracy, just as we have done by allowing the decline of our inner-city schools. We must not allow our universities to become bastions of privilege, rather than instruments of social mobility.
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