This article is focused on the following UN Sustainable Development Goal:
Institutions of higher learning in the US have simplified curriculums and increased tuitions, making education less accessible, to sell the “college experience”.
Education in America is sought after like it is the holy grail, and understandably so. Due to their broad range of subjects, leading technology and research, generous funding, engaging campuses, and the promise of a successful career after graduation, American Universities attract students from all over the world.
However, while they boast the use of a meritocratic system to find the brightest students, up to 70% of the selected students come from wealthy families. This may be caused by legacy based admissions, in which universities “double or quadruple” the likeliness of one's admission if their parents or ancestors had attended the school before. Harvard University concluded in an interview with The Atlantic that legacy preference would “encourage alumni to remain engaged”, not just through financial investments, but also fostering a deeper sense of community, and intergenerational commitment to these institutions.
A Yale case study had interesting results: As an institution that gives legacy children a bump in admissions, their total alumni ‘giving’ was expected to decrease as the percentage of legacy children went from “24% to 13%” between 1980 to 2010, however, their endowment (partly funded by alumni donations) increased 8-fold. Showing that there is no true financial benefit to legacy preference.
Then what is it?
After 50 individuals were outed for their use of wealth and influence to bypass laws and admit their children into these prestigious institutions, it can be concluded that legacy preference is a completely legal method of enforcing elitism in high-level institutions. While the normal acceptance rate for students at Harvard University is 5.9%, the rate shoots up to 34% for legacy students. Quality high-level education for all stopped existing when “colleges prioritize[d] money over equity”.
Marginalized students and students from low-income homes have continuously been deprived of a chance to escape this poverty trap because high-level institutions don’t only sell their education and resources, but also their brand. A brand that immediately secures a well-off future and is monopolized by the rich and influential.
Elitism has been systemically integrated into the educational system through legacy preference, and as long as it exists, no single person can be blamed for the injustice.
The Washington Post states, “while 69 percent of high school graduates get postsecondary education, only about half of them get a B.A. or equivalent,” and this large gap is caused by steep tuition prices.
Though the Democrat and Socialist Bernie Sanders has addressed this issue by proposing “free” or “debt-free” college. However, the same Washington Post study found that free college would actually lower college completion rates, as two-year degrees would be more appealing than paid-four-year degrees.
Additionally, while it is appealing, this wouldn’t be a viable option, politically or economically. The model of tuition-free Germany (that Bernie uses) shows that, “Government funds become spread too thin. That reduces quality and limits capacity”.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez insists that Biden use executive order (which is the equivalent of federal law), in order to forgive up to 1.4 Trillion dollars in student loans. From the genesis of this idea to now, it has been refuted repeatedly by conservatives and centrists, claiming their tax-payer money shouldn’t be invested in other people. Au contraire, since the wealthy have easier access to post-secondary education, it is the low-earning and marginalized groups that are the ‘other people’, and they are the ones that accumulate debt. Canceling student debt would alleviate the heavy burden on already poor communities, and give them a chance to escape poverty.
While loans and debt pardons may solve the issue temporarily, drastic systemic changes and greater investment in public institutions is what will truly resolve the matter.
Remember, change starts with you.
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