06 Jul Gaps in College Experience
What’s it like to be on a college campus these days as an African-American? Or as a first-generation college student from a low-income family? Students from these groups experience college very differently than their white, middle-class peers. [NYTimes article about U Tex] http://hechingerreport.org/the-socioeconomic-divide-on-americas-college-campuses-is-getting-wider-fast/
Many of these students have different social and cultural capital (terms coined by the French sociologist, Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002)), than what is the majority norm for success in the modern college system. Social reproduction and inter-generational transmission of inequality.
For first-gen students and those from low-income families, thinking about joining clubs, going out at night and even traveling home during holiday breaks is a luxury. These students must spend a significant amount of time navigating campus, financial aid, ability to pay for required materials and incidentals, and sitting through class after class with professors who have vastly different backgrounds and experiences, not to mention skin color and ethnic or cultural heritage.
Data: financial aid covers on average [X% of tuition and room & board; almost no schools have official funding programs to cover incidental fees, materials (not insignificant in arts programs), and emergency trips home] Unpaid internships are a luxury. As the first person in their family to attend college, these students need to look for other sources of support when they have questions or just need some understanding for some of the typical college experiences they may be having.
For students of color, their experiences run the gamut of [feeling like they are the token minority in the room and have to speak for the entire race even if they don’t believe in the media hyped popular rhetoric, to outrage and anger at fellow students, faculty and institutional racism and insensitivity].
Organizations that provide social and cultural capital:
College Visions
A Leg Even
1stGen Yale
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