Although Professor Schwarz’s book is titled How to Succeed in College and Beyond, the portion of his discussion that stuck out the most to me was his thoughts about succeeding before college; in particular, applying and getting accepted to a university. In one part of his discussion, Professor Schwarz talked about how private or upper-middle class schools tend to prepare kids for college from a young age by offering resources such as tutoring, advanced classes, etc. I went to a private middle school and I can attest that this is true; I remember doing a project in 7th grade in which I researched different universities and picked out the ones I most wanted to attend. Our curriculum was also more advanced in comparison to the public middle schools in the area.

After I graduated from this private middle school I went to a public high school in a middle-lower class town. Although I liked it better than my private school, there were some clear differences in the caliber of academics. Out of my entire graduating class of 550 students, I think only about 100 ended up going straight to four-year universities. I had friends at the private high school in the area, and if I recall correctly, 90% of the graduating class went straight to four-year colleges. There’s clearly a wide discrepancy here.

I think part of the reason for this discrepancy is that upper-class schools and families simply have more resources to prepare their children for college. Upper class students probably also feel more pressure to get good grades. However, I think the biggest reason is that lower-class students are discouraged from even applying because they think it’s unaffordable. I knew so many smart people with good grades who didn’t even apply for four-year colleges because they thought their family couldn’t afford it. When word got out that I was going to Cornell, countless people asked me how I was going to afford to pay the exorbitant $60,000 tuition. To be honest, I got a $45,000/year grant, and scholarships and loans covered the rest. My family paid very little out-of-pocket.

So anyways, I think the main reason why lower class students tend not to go to college is because they simply don’t know how much aid is available to them. Of course they know financial aid exists, but I don’t think they know quite how much a school can offer them. Professor Schwarz briefly touched upon this lower/upper class divide in his talk, but from firsthand experience I think the reasons for this divide are a lot more than a lack of resources. If lower class high schoolers simply realized that it is possible for college to be affordable, I think they would try harder to get good grades and apply to universities.