Imagine if the best students got into the best colleges — and that these entering freshman classes represented the real American population? That’d be in an ideal world. But we know the truth… that highly selective colleges admit white and wealthy students, and these privileged students have access to private college advisors, SAT/ACT prep classes, private schools, and professional opportunities that poor students don’t.
But there may be hope!
New America is proposing an overhaul of the college admissions process by removing the huge wealth gaps so students will NOT be admitted simply because they’re privileged. With this new plan, colleges and universities that give admission preferences to alumni children or offer Early Decision applications will lose federal aid programs (MONEY for students) and federal research grants (MONEY for research). Colleges need these programs and grants, and they tend to pay attention when they’ll lose funding.