I feel like the author had to struggle a lot throughout college. He had to worry about providing for himself, helping his family with bills,and had to work multiple jobs. I myself haven’t been through any of these struggles but I feel like we should all appreciate all of the hard work some people do. I think that we should be grateful for our opportunities because the author's story about his struggles are very unique and he worked hard to get where he is today. The college “landscape” that the author talks about where colleges look at a student’s neighborhood and environments is unfair. It doesn’t matter where you come from, but how hard you work in school and what kind of person you are. Where you come from shouldn’t affect whether you get accepted into colleges. I’m glad I read this article because even though I haven’t personally experienced these struggles, it’s good to be aware of what some people are going through.
Some ways that the author struggled is that he had to help out his family with bills, provide food for himself, he had to work in multiple jobs, and he had to worry about his family. I can't say that I can relate to any of this but people that have suffered from this that they can be strong and fight through it.Anothy Jack explains the landscape "a set of measures for colleges to use in admissions that takes into consideration students’ neighborhood and high school environments. It is unique because it describes how he has struggled with having low income and barely having anything to eat. Also because not everyone goes through this type of struggle like Anthony Jack did. I didn't know that it was this hard to live off of what you had and how it can effect you while you are attending a college.
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Some of the ways the author struggled while in college is financially with low-income while trying to find a job to feed himself and help his family back home. Another way the author struggled was the racism and discrimination the author felt on a daily basis at his school. The author shared ways he was affected of being a low-income student in such a different environment that doesn't go through the struggles that he goes through. A part that I related to in the author's story is how he went to Head Start and so did I when I was 3 and 4 years old. I think the author story is unique because it sheds light on a struggle that many people go through but don't speak about it because they think nobody else can relate. While this article proves them that they are not alone and there are also other people out there that understand what they are going through.
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I appreciate your insight and I share the same opinions you say in your comment. I believe the author, Anthony Abraham Jack, was putting an emphasis how difficult his life at home was. He expressed his constant concern for the safety of his family members he left behind and he mentioned that even though he was away from home, he felt responsibility to help pay the bills. He also mentions that despite his background being considered ideal for college essays to most people, the reality was harsh and a never ending struggle. Jack says he wants to actually help the low income students, not just read the essay, feel bad, and then move on. He wants to make sure that the students who come from a low income background have as much help as they can get because they might not get enough help back home. While I can’t relate to this article, I think it’s important that everyone read this article and understand that sometimes in college, classes aren’t the hardest part.
The author struggled a lot through college some of these ways being working multiple jobs, going hungry for days, worrying about his family, and struggling to make his payments. Personally I can't say that I relate to any of these hardships but I do feel empathy for him and others who've had to go through similar situations. Anthony Jack explains the college board contextual "landscape" as "a set of measures for colleges to use in admissions that takes into consideration students’ neighborhood and high school environments, the constellation of influences — individual and institutional — that shape students’ chances at upward mobility". This landscape could affect my future acceptance to college because depending on how these colleges may be looking at me could be a deciding factor between my acceptance or not. I think the author's story is prevalent because I know this is a harsh reality for many people trying to go to college and that there are hundreds of thousands of people suffering through this right now. I learned just how blessed and privileged I am to not have to go through the same things as him and how grateful I should be for the life I have.
1 He had no money for food or to pay for most things
2 I can relate to not having money or being lower-income but still, I was always feed
3 And the author's experience is unique cause yes he got a scholarship but that was still not enough
4 still I thought that scholarships were enough to go thru colleague without starving
i found this article very interesting about low income in college and his experience through it. Some of the struggles that i read about was that he was worried about his family, worked a lot of jobs to maintain his payments, he went hungry for a ton of days. I cant really relate to this situation but i can feel his emotion that he expressed through the article. Anothy jack explains
the landscape "a set of measures for colleges to use in admissions that takes into consideration students’ neighborhood and high school environments, the constellation of influences — individual and institutional — that shape students’ chances at upward mobility."Landscape could affect my my future acceptance into to college by how colleges are looking at people and there backgrounds. I found that this story is unique it is very interesting to read about low income and the struggles that he went through. What i have learned is to be grateful for what i have.
Iowa State University also has an on-campus food pantry called SHOP, Students Helping our Peers, opened in 2011.
http://www.theshop.stuorg.iastate.edu/
I am not a student athlete but did come from a low income family and totally understand the struggles of supporting yourself through college. its not easy working three jobs and maintaining good grades while also trying to support your family.
Rather than eat SUPER junk food out of a vending machine, why not go to a store - WALK OR RUN for exercise - and buy some healthy food (MYTH - healthy food is NOT more expensive than JUNK FOOD from a vending machine). I guarantee that within a very short period of time you will feel better about yourself and maybe even take that LARGE CHIP off your shoulder!
From where? Often, there aren't affordable grocery stores nearby. The on campus market can often be incredibly expensive with a very limited range of items. Also, for students who are working multiple jobs while also trying to maintain adequate grades, there isn't much time left over for cooking, meal prepping, etc. Dorm fridges don't have very much space in them, and it can be hard to cook nutritious foods using just a microwave (most colleges don't allow hot plates). It's easy to say "just eat better!", but until you've lived this life (as I did as a low-income, first generation college student, and the students I work with now as as a professor/advisor do) then you don't truly understand all the myriad challenges.
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This article brought tears to imagine the writer hungry, working so many hours and worrying about his family. Having said that, I was also a low income college student who went to a state university and paid my way entirely by working a full time job. I got some financial aid/grants from govt but that's it. I paid my rent and all expenses. While I didn't have to wory about my family's physical safety, I did act as a safety net providing funds to both my father and younger brother while working in college. This was 30 years ago. Many of my friends were in the same boat. The only time I felt as alienated as this writer was when I was to an expensive private middle school on a scholarship. Going to a state university is much more inclusive experience.
The protection of being white was never more obvious than when I commuted from Northeast Portland to Reed College. No one knew where I was from or how I came up. Fortunately my deadbeat father had left home and my mother was working, so I had housing and food. Basics are very important.
Thank you for this piece. I read it late, but am glad I did. I learned a lot from this piece and empathize with students like the author.
Great writing. I went to Williams, Amherst's rival, and hailed from suburban Chicago. We were not wealthy but I certainly had advantages that Anthony did not. A generation before, Williams and other schools like it began "diversifying" their class. Back then it meant admitting poor white kids from places like Wyoming or South Bend, Indiana, where my father came from, instead of North East prep school kids who were the bulk of the class.
He was admitted to Harvard but he chose Williams for two reasons: 1. A picture of a fraternity party there published in Life Magazine which looked fun 2. A full ride scholarship and campus job to cover his other expenses. While I heard plenty of stories of his meager childhood existence growing up where he started working at the corner drugstore at 12, I never heard stories of him having to go hungry in Williamstown and he was always invited home for weekends and holidays by his roommate. He got into the fraternity. Back then his Jewish friends did not. He also tells the story of the double date he went on to Vassar with his best friend. Dad does not recall his date's name but his buddy went with Jane Fonda.
While Dad struggled academically at Williams compared to the prep school boys, he went on to med school and a very successful career in academic medicine at a major Midwestern university.
My point is much like Anthony's. While financially these schools have treated low income students well, there is no question they need to do more.
Excellent article. It's nice to see someone write an article about the reality of students in this situation. Wealthy students have no idea about what low income students have to deal with. Students from poor backgrounds can barely imagine what it would be like to be able to go to college and only have to think about their classes and their school work. Our society is so unfair, and skewed toward people with resources, and yet so many people still think that everyone has an equal chance in America. The truth is, a student from a safe, wealthy background has a huge advantage over a poor student from a high-crime area, and SAT test prep classes are an excellent example of just one of these advantages.
One place you might put in some effort is to find mentors near the college who can guide students like you when they come to a completely foreign situation. In college it’s not just book learning that’s important, its also learning how to get along in a different social situation than the poverty from which you came. Alumni mentors can help steudents get through the college years and help prevent students from going hungry.
Congratulations, Dr. Jack on your achievements. I was moved to tears by your story.Thank you for speaking to the fact that the College Board has now even considered an "adversity index", it means that their eyes have been pointed in the right direction. As a college staff member working with first-generation, Dreamers, under served and high-risk populations, I see firsthand what this article is about. Although I serve students in a community college setting, I too see the stresses that having the campus cafeteria closed during the summer brings. Many of my students don't have vehicles and they don't want the added hardship of paying for the bus for an "unnecessary" and time-wasting trip away from campus to get food, at least for those that can afford both bus AND food. Some of my students leave school and go to work in order to help their families, and the cycle is repeated. Many of my students will stay close to home and attend the four year colleges that are nearby, but not their first choice so as to avoid further hardships for themselves and their loved ones. We MUST get better at this. Not because I want to "correct or change our way of living in the USA" or because I believe we should "take the burden of child rearing from parents and put it on the taxpayers" but because investing in an educated population is a benefit to us all.
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something that really resonated with me was the social isolation the author described. not just the weight of the pressures and problems from home -- but my own inability to blend in socially at an elite university coming from an economically disadvantaged background. when you are surrounded by privileged kids who all scored near perfect SAT scores, who don't understand why you can't eat out and pay $15 for every meal, who think you are making excuses when you say you have work (because you have to work a minimum of 20 hours a week just to be able to afford your $400 rent splitting a one-bedroom apartment with 3 other people), and not having the financial means to participate in sororities or clubs... adjusting to college is difficult. your network of friends is limited, people don't understand you and can't relate. opportunity alone is not enough. coming from a socially disadvantaged background means you are extremely self-sufficient: you are the rock and the pillar that you, your family, and your community has relied on for so long. when you spend your whole life as an underdog, you don't know any other way. your responsibility became your identity. all i think i really needed was someone to break the isolation. someone to tell me i belonged. that i was deserving of their time and care and not an imposter who somehow was selected by the admissions committee accidentally. someone to help me realize that unless i speak up, i cannot be helped.
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I was a 1st gen student too, 30 years ago. My problems were not as severe as yours, I was never hungry or had relatives that needed money for example. But I had problems adjusting to the difficult work and work load, and my work-study job ate into a lot of my time.
Nevertheless, for me getting to my college was the most astounding experience, like the lights being suddenly turned on in a dark room. In my high school there was nothing cool about being smart and there was no such thing as an intellectual discussion. Joyfully, all of a sudden that was turned on its head!
I am profoundly grateful that my college, a large Ivy, took a chance on me: a woefully unprepared student who needed full financial aid.
You raise a lot of very good points about how colleges can help more, thank you for this article, but can we also appreciate the generosity of colleges for enabling us to attend?
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One does not need to attend an elite Ivy League school in order to make it out of poverty. Socio-economic gaps can be too much of a distraction and otherwise thwart well-intentioned programs. College students should at least start out in a somewhat comfortable environment leaving open the possibility for transfer to a "better" school if that is desirable. I vote for community colleges and other state-run schools
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The author may be astonished to learn that not all white students prepare for the SATs with private coaches and special cram classes. Many of us just go in cold and take the test and do quite well if we had worked hard in our classes. I did study for the Physics exam, but all I did was check out a Barron's Guide from the local library. I did not spend a nickel preparing for any of the tests. Neither did my wife. Nor did we spend anything on our children for special preparation when the time for their exams approached.
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Helping committed students from difficult backgrounds leads to a stronger, healthier society. Educators need to do some soul searching and realize how damaging a causal comment on potential can be to a student. Financial aid officers need their own lessons in budgeting to understand finance when people are on the edge. Besides voting and paying taxes, the well-off local families could volunteer to help these students navigate the nuance of The Ivy Leagues. I am sure having students like Anthony over for dinner during break would benefit both. Bridging the gap is doable and worth it. Well done Anthony~
Perhaps colleges should give out fewer scholarships, but make the amount of money greater. This way poor students with academic ability wouldn't have to choose between buying books or buying food.
leaving aside the article, the picture is a disgrace in need of proper lighting
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A huge part of this article resonates with me so strongly that I'm confused why you would limit this experience just to Latinx and Black communities. My family is a diversity visa winner, it's been less than 5 years since we are in this country, and I'm the first in our family to go to college (and as a cherry on top, it turns out to be an American one). Coming to this country in 2015 with less than $10,0000 and a family of 4 felt so, so, SO alienating. The part where you weren't sure if you needed to pay for your professor's coffee & and the customs from this new life of yours; that's exactly how everything felt and still occasionally feels like, going to a top 30 university.
While you bring up valid experiences of the lower class in this country, I think it's such a loss to alienate readers of different ethnic background who might feel the same and can be empowered by an article like this. There are racist institutional injustices woven in this country that affect Black Americans on a different level than others, but this feeling of alienation isn't exclusive to you guys; it's a class problem. You could unite entire lower-class america (well probably not all the Whites) under this article, but it ended up feeling exclusionary for the sake of cheep talking points.
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i'm curious as to why you think the article "alienate[s] readers of different backgrounds".
Did you read it expecting, or hoping, to be alienated?
The article contains one person's story. But it makes no claim (that I saw, at any rate) that his experiences are limited to African-Americans, and is fairly explicitly concerned not about race (whatever that is) but about economic and social class, and the cultural differences that arise between classes.
The author is under no obligation to ask the world what people he should write about before he sets pen to paper. He writes what he writes. You can read it (based primarily on the photograph?) as exclusionary, or you can read it as one entry in the story of how America treats its peoples.
You talk about uniting people. Think about how your comments work toward achieving that goal.
Personal hardship is a social ill? This is neo-liberalism in all its terrible glory. Let's grow up.
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unfortunately, quite a few people want schools to correct or change our way of living in the USA. schools were started to teach or educate people starting with six year olds. now, many districts start with pre-kinder garden, then kinder garden, etc. this is all geared to take the burden of child rearing from parents and putting it on the taxpayers. many people want the taxpayers to pay for child care for babies and toddlers.
schools are now also expected to feed poor kids, provide medical care, etc. these are all GOOD things, but it has nothing to do with simply educating people.
our form of government does not outwardly require that all people should BE equal or happy. our form of government provides that everyone should be able to pursue their own happiness. in our great country we have always had poor people, middle class people and rich people. our constitution does not mandate that all people should be rich or that rich people must support poor people or people who do not have money to travel home on a school's vacation break. those people could choose to be educated closer to home. the choice is their choice and not the taxpayer.
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One thing we as humans must remember is that life itself is a gathering of our life experience, environment and choices. Those students who decide to choose college to better there lives whether close to home or far away need support especially first generation college students. While you focus your response on the support being left to tax payers remember he is now a taxpayer himself who is now a productive member of society reaching back to educate those who are in poverty and the choices they make while giving them vital information to help them succeed.
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Lyrical. Thank you, Mr. Jack, for sharing your experience and perspective. Not only is this content extremely important, but your voice & writing style is enthralling. If this article were a book, I would still read the whole thing in one sitting.
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Thank you for bringing this to the forefront. When I step on my child’s campus and look around, I take in the young eighteen year olds with their unearned expensive designer jewelry and clothing and, by no fault of their own that they were born into privilege, their lack of knowing what it’s like to have to work not only to fill their own bellies but that of their families that depend upon them to do so. I am from a neighborhood where everyone struggles to live, to eat, to pay rent. My mom often calls me and cries about not being able to make her rent. I was able to escape that and now live in an affluent bubble in the suburbs - but I completely understand the struggle. People where I live feel so good about themselves giving to charities. They write checks or raise money for the poor BUT they do not visit these neighborhoods, walk around (even drive around) and see, feel, understand what it feels like to be on the other side. This essay says it all. Thank you!
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I guess any excuse is good enough. Maybe culture has something to do with it. My 36-year-old nephew has just paid off his modest home that he bought because it was the one that he could afford. He also has a wife and 2 kids. That’s after he graduated from university with no debt since he held down several jobs. His uncle served 4 years USN/USMC including a year in Vietnam, then attended college, still graduated with the $2,000 he had saved in Vietnam (combat pay) and retired at 58 a multi-millionaire.
Professor Jack; thank you so much for your brilliant summary of college life and poverty. It's shocking that we as a nation can't afford to make sure students are clothed, housed and properly fed while we spend billions on military hardware. Our youth are our future. How can they thrive in school without proper care?
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Or maybe not have family back home expecting to use your food money to pay their bills . Shameless obviously. This was not a government, college or societal problem. This was a family issue.
Im feeling this even at the age of 63,black female. so much i could say, and thank you for this article.
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Amherst College is an uber-elite school. And a professorship at Harvard speaks for itself. There's no question that Dr. Jack has done very, very well in academia, and should be congratulated for his achievements. Poverty knows no racial or ethnic barriers. A quick look at US population demographics indicates that there are ~16 million whites, ~8 million Hispanics and 7.5 million blacks living in poverty. It's a much larger issue than this article leads the reader to believe.
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Dr. Jack,
Nobody knows like we know. I had the opportunity to go to West Point but instead ended up at Yale, because I was female, 1st generation American and in my Caribbean-American family, in the 1970s, women in the military were...not heterosexual(insert 1970s word here), and my family at least had heard that Harvard, Yale, Princeton were the top schools. It was the first year that college TUITION (excluding room and board) had topped $10k. Unfortunately, because of my jobs, and my mom's 2-3 jobs, we were not poor enough for a full scholarship, so the EFC was $4k.(again this is NOT counting room & board) I wouldn't let my mom take out a loan so yeah, worked off campus (saw my first Klansman in 1980 in New Haven CT), worked on campus, the football stadium ticket shack, the Architecture stacks, etc. Dropped out 1/2 way through sophomore year. pneumonia. Anyway, 4 colleges and universities later, I did finish that b.a. degree. But yeah, making dinner out of the appetizer spreads from career fairs. Cramming into a car with 6 other people to get home for the holidays [$10 round trip plus splitting whatever bag of chips and 2 6 packs we could all agree on]. Choosing typewriter paper and ribbon over a new coat when asked, "what do you want for Christmas?". Even now, my mom regrets my dropping out of Yale (37 years later) "I would have quit my job and moved to New Haven to support you so that all you would have to do is go to class". I survived. And thrived.
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@sechat I really appreciate your insight and sharing your personal experience, and your point of view on the dual citizenship you were living- at college and in the Caribbean. Just like Anthony, with all of the jobs you had just to stay in college, persevering because universities fail to recognize that once you get attend you need just as much financial aid for your daily life, as you do tuition. Working on college exams and papers is hard enough, while also living this dual citizenship, and paying for two lives at once. Universities need to help students to earn money for their lives, and their low income families back at home.
Thank you for sharing. We were just talking about this very issue today. My daughter attends an elite college where housing is only guaranteed for the first two years. Off-campus apartments are ridiculously expensive and landlords require students to sign a 12-month contract (even though financial aid is based on 9 months). Competition is so tight for these apartments most leases are being signed right now for the 2020-2021 school year. My daughter and her friends found an apartment they like, and all they have to do to secure the lease is pay a $3000 deposit per person... for an apartment they won't be living in for almost a year. Apparently this is standard for most off-campus housing. I asked my daughter what the low-income kids do, and she had no idea. If they have to wait until financial aid comes in next year, they will be getting the worst choice of housing, and they might not be able to live with their friends. It's things like this most wealthier families and students don't think about.
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I wished that more students from privileged background would read more stories like this; the same kids and their parents who complain that they cannot get to Ivy schools because kids of color from disadvantaged backgrounds have priority. I also wish I could argue better and explain better what people from poverty go through. I can relate about remittances, it never ends. Is it a burden? I sometimes think so until one kid from the same background said, it's not a burden because they are family.
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Bittersweet and painful truth. Thank you.
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Great article highlighting the very different experience of people on Campus.
A large fraction of the students are struggling not just "poor" student, as income rise so is the amount of money you pay for tuition and board. My daughter is in college and tells us about large number of homeless students, I don't think they all come from "poor" families.
These days you can't work to pay as you go when you need 3k per month minimum to cover university bills alone [assuming you get no price break]. Leaving off campus in California will still run about 1k per month sharing an apartment. At $15 gross per hour, that >20h per week just to cover housing.
Student from families which are more affluent are more "bankable" and are able to borrow money to pay for tuition and board. Still this is "misery" deferred in many case.
My experience studying in France was quite different since there was no crushing tuition to pay there. Still affording to live without working full time is a challenge everywhere. I lived with my mom until I was 24, no way we could rent a place for me to be away, I worked part time during the year and full time during summers.
I am very happy I could and can now afford to just write a check to cover my daughter student life [apartment, car, tuition, books, insurance(s)]. If I wasn't though, I would definitely not sent her to a far away 4 year college. Local community colleges while staying home would have been the only choice we would have supported.
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Thank you so much for this. I have failed (many times) to illustrate the disservice and disconnect that exists on campus. I'm an alum and former employee of an Ivy that prides itself on being the first in many diversity goalposts. However, the neglect of first-generation and low income students that I witnessed as Faculty-In-Residence still haunts me 15 years later. Each academic break (and there were many) left many students (who could not travel home or had no home) without food for days. Meal plans did not apply to the one or two a la carte dining halls that stayed open (presumably to serve staff). Of course I fed the visible students, but what of the ones holed up in their rooms? Past the enforced fasting was the lack of institutional support for those attempting to bridge a great cultural divide. I still see the face of one gifted and sweet young man as he spoke of not knowing who he was anymore and admitting he found it too hard to go home and be his old self and come back to campus and feel a fraud. He dropped out in his last semester of his senior year. Those shiny brochures mimicking a Benetton ad feel like false advertising to me. Compounding this feeling of; "hey, we let you in, what else do you want?" sentiment is the larger admissions tale (tainted with legacy, sport and financial legs up.) As I said, I can not do the injustice justice but so appreciate you doing so. Thank you.
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Well said!
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Very powerful story. I live in the area and a first generation Southeast Asian. I grew in around drugs and gang violence. I struggled myself from undergraduate, masters, and now doctorate. The goal was never about accolades, it was more about possibilities coming from an impoverished environment and reaching back to help pull others up. Thank you for sharing. How could I reach out to Dr. Anthony Abraham Jack?
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I also was poverty poor. It didn't not occur to me to apply to any college I couldn't commute too - I thought I couldn't afford it.
However I had functional parents.
Never, ever, no matter what happens should parent use children for emotional support - those phone calls to you where inexcusable.
Never in a million years, my parents would demand ( and that what it sounded like - demand) that I bail them out - they are adults, why in the world DirectTV is in your name? you can't afford DirectTv - you don't get it. And yes, I speak from experience.
I'm not sure what college can do beyond band-aids having food available on school break. What really needed is to someone to tell your parents to cut it off. But will they listen?
You are conditioned to make excuses for your family - you love them. From outside, they represent everything parents should not be.
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It seems to me the problems is not with the colleges and their "leafy green campuses" but the family back home demanding money from someone who couldn't afford it and should've just said no. In one sentence you bemoan the lack of money to eat and the schools' lack of resources for that and in the next someone, an adult family member, calling you to pay the bills. Seems the latter is the problem in this case. The last sentence kind of says it all.
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The problem is poverty, or rather inequality. Starts there, ends there. The moment some people are Less Than is the moment things fail. Things people do to try and claw their way back to some semblance of acceptable are completely avoidable yet utterly inevitable.
Fix inequality and you fix everything else.
I was that student getting the frantic phone call from my dad asking for my refund money to help fix the car so he could get to work. What are you supposed to do when your parent is begging for help? Maybe you could have said no at 18, but I couldn't. I "loaned" it to him, but of course, I didn't get it back. He was barely making ends meet as it was, which was why I had qualified for the need-based scholarships and grants in the first place. That was the only time I got that call, and my frantic sobs when he explained that he couldn't pay it back and I realized that I wouldn't be able to buy books, eat, etc. probably showed him that it wasn't just free money as he thought it had been. Parents of first generation college students don't often understand how financial aid works, and my dad certainly didn't 20 years ago. He thought it was just extra money for me. He didn't realize that it was the money I was to use for my books, supplies, food, etc. for the entire semester. He also thought I'd get "paid" regularly, like it was a job, and not just once per semester. I got a job and worked and managed to survive, but it was hard. Perhaps Dr. Jack's family simply didn't understand how it worked, or perhaps they were so immured in poverty that he was their only option to survive.
But then again that's not on the college, society or government to educate first generation college students nor fill in the gaps when mom, dad, uncle and aunts seem to think it's ok to use your book, eat, laundry money to fix their car. Sorry hard to imagine those back home are that daft.
It seems to me the problems is not with the colleges and their "leafy green campuses" but the family back home demanding money from someone who couldn't afford it and should've just said no. In one sentence you bemoan the lack of money to eat and the schools' lack of resources for that and in the next someone, an adult family member, calling you to pay the bills. Seems the latter is the problem in this case. The last sentence kind of says it all.
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So the solution is to "just say no" to your parents, siblings, family, people you love, who may be facing circumstances more dire than your own? That response is naive or callous, or both: you don't seem to understand the point of this article (or don't want to). Somehow the inevitable solution for poor black or brown people is to "just say no", whether it's to desperate relatives or to drugs..
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The point of the story was that schools need to give more to those less advantaged students. The uni is there to educate the students not support the family back home. He had 4 jobs and he can't eat? That is not on the school but the family. Again I didn't miss the point of the story. But to blame the uni for his predicament is misguided.
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I agree with you. Asking a student to send money home is wrong. Couldn't the folks in Florida find additional jobs so the college student didn't have to have four?
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Brilliant article, so incredibly and succinctly descriptive of the struggle of so many students who gain admission to college only to find themselves mired in debt, family issues and unfamiliarity of the “code” of the elite. I am so grateful you shared your story—it should be required reading for every college admissions officer and educator in the country. As you correctly pointed out, the struggle begins with perceptions of students in elementary school. We must reform our entire educational system, set up to reward only those conventionally good students who fit the mold, and those whose parents pay for access (see Felicity Huffman). Bravo, and congratulations on your achievements.
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What is your definition of "conventionally good" and what would the alternative be in order to determine a merit based admissions policy?
Thank you for sharing your story and giving a voice to the difficulties that many folks. even folks who are given their "golden ticket," are facing. It illuminates needed light on a space that many do not understand. I can certainly relate in many ways to your story and college experience, although my story has many differences. For example, I experienced a lifetime of trauma, drug addiction, periodic homelessness and criminal justice system involvement. When I was 30, I was a newly sober single father with a GED living in a one bedroom apartment with my daughter when I started college. Everything was hard. Everything. Classes were, as your article described, the least of my difficulties; not just after I got in but sometimes still. Ten years later, while I have begun my second year of PhD studies in Social Work (thanks only to a seeking out a vast network of folks who could help; professionals and otherwise), there are too many that should be but are not in my position. Hearing stories like yours and having mentors like you, is one incredible anecdote that can move equity forward. Thank you for being you and sharing with us! Keep up the great work.
7
WOW!!! This article is soooo good! It really hits home with me. I can also remember attending an all-girl private high school in the Bronx and not able to go to any after-school programs unless it was FREE. My mother was only to pay the tuition. I probably had my uniform the entire 4-years. So Kaplan's tutoring, after school anything even the prom was out of the question.
You did such an awesome job illustrating the transition poverty-stricken young adults have to bare while focusing on the future. I look forward to reading more from you!
9
I appreciate you sharing your experiences in relation to Anthony Abraham Jack. In this article, I think Mr. Jack, having been a disadvantaged youth himself, aims to emphasize the struggles faced by students with lower-income backgrounds. These struggles are put in the spotlight when submitting college applications, but they prove to be more of a burden once students get accepted. For this reason, he believes colleges should have a “deeply human touch”; they should take into consideration the troubles that certain students from unfortunate backgrounds face, and help them navigate through their college experiences. Being a first-generation student myself, I understand that it can be hard to learn how the college system works, especially since it is not exactly tailored to help those who do not know how to succeed in a post-secondary environment. Jack’s insights into how colleges can assist low-income and/or first generation students greatly influenced his school into making a change to benefit such students, which I believe is a remarkable achievement and I strongly admire.
Congratulations on your achievements. It clearly took struggle, discipline, and perseverance, (and a whole lotta stuff that I grew up too privileged to fully appreciate) in order to accomplish what you have. Your voice, and your story, is important to hear for colleges and universities to learn how they can improve the product they offer to the ones who could most benefit.
You impress me enormously. Thank you for sharing your story.
6
How familiar this is to me. I too grew up in poverty and was the first generation to go to college (any college; my parents couldn’t even fathom an Ivy League). I too was bewildered by college culture, even at my large state-funded school. I too worked more hours than I studied; there was no choice. Like Prof. Jack, because of my appearance, my accent, my dress and my demeanor, I too was looked upon as less. Except I was a white girl. Prof. Jack, I have no doubt that racism hobbled some of your prospects, but a silent, similar prejudice still disregards, ignores, and dismisses poor white girls like me. May I suggest, Prof. Jack, that you take a moment to check your male privilege.
1
Thank you so much for writing this.
I can vividly remember my mother hugging me tight and saying through tears "Get everything you can out of this. Don't live like a pauper, if you need something we'll figure it out". She was dropping me off my Freshman year of college and I knew, in truth, that I could never burden my family with that sort of call. I was on full scholarship and working two jobs, and sometimes that was barely enough, but everyone was so proud of my for being first that I could not bring myself to complain and did not fully understand at the time why things were sometimes, despite a full scholarship, difficult in ways hard to articulate. Thank you for articulating them in this article.
17
Thank you for telling this story, which needs to be heard, and thanks Msl for your story, too. I teach science at a rural college, and this reflects what I have often seen in the daily lives of my students. Poverty disrupts the education of many of our students, and I wish there were better ways for it to be handled. I have seen both NYC students dealing with issues exactly like the writer describes so well, but I've also seen many of our local rural students dealing with similar problems. I've seen a local A student drop out, so he could work to provide health coverage for his sick mom - at 23, he was the family's breadwinner, and he never came back to college. I'm proud when our students go on to success, often getting PhDs and MDs, but I mourn for the many talented students who can't make it because of poverty. We have to find a better way to help these students.
5
I am glad Mr Jack was able to make a successful career and life for himself despite his difficulties starting out. I couldn't imagine being a college student and expected to help out adult relatives with their bills.
That others struggled too is beside the point. We all struggle.
That some have to struggle so much through no fault of their own is the problem. That others struggle far less because they won the birthright lottery is also part of the problem.
Too many readers refuse to check their own privilege. Obviously being born whiter, smarter, richer, to more educated parents, to two parents, to four grandparents, etc, ... are all privileges--they are gifts bestowed upon some but not others. Life is unfair--true--but we can make it fairer. It will never be fair. If it can be fairer and we do not try to make it so, what does that say about us?
5
No question that poor kids have it tougher in college than wealthy ones. That doesn't make it different from any other avenue in life, does it? To me, this story is more about the unfortunate family burden he had to bear. Any kid in college, rich or poor, who has to worry about his family's daily life back at home (finances, divorce, mental illness, addiction, abuse) is going to find it difficult to focus on studies and being a part of the school community.
5
Dear Dr. Jack,
Thank you for your article regarding your experience at Amherst. Many of the variables you share and bring to light are the reasons my brother did not make it at Amherst.
Thank you.
Dr. Cecilia Brock
1
Some of y'all are really harsh. Mr. Jack persisted, graduated, and has gone on to a distinguished career. What is wrong with being honest about how he FELT during those years? As someone who went to an elite college with a big financial aid package but sorely unprepared (both academically and socially), I appreciated his story. Empathy is never a bad thing.
I also couldn't help wondering if David of "David Makes Man" (Tarell Alvin McCraney's beautiful and heartbreaking creation on OWN) will eventually end up at Amherst. I'd like to see that!
https://nyti.ms/2OWTP2C
2
This article, true and welcome, unintentionally perpetuates one of the most persistent stereotypes of next-gen students at Ivy League colleges: we are members of one racial minority group or another.
In my veins runs the blood of Scots-Irish hardscrabble farmers, Scandinavian lumberjacks, Westphalian barmaids, and sharecroppers with tarpaper shacks in the Mississippi Delta. They all have two things in common. They are all white, and none of them went to college.
In fact, I am the first male in my family to graduate from high school. If I did not have the hardships of the streets calling out to me as this writer did, I also did not have membership in a group which, at Amherst, offered a good deal of solidarity.
I did enjoy white privilege. That was good enough to keep me alive when hitchhiking to the nearest city. But it confused other white students, who had never met a white person from the wrong side of town, and alienated the other first-gen students in my class.
5
In my opinion, anyone reading this article as a self-indulgent exercise in victimhood needs to review how their preconceived biases got in the way of their reading comprehension. This guy is just laying out facts. As someone who succeeded and noticed there were problems, not as someone grasping at excuses for their own bad decisions.
Perhaps the article could have relied more on statistics, although it was presented as a personal essay and not a research study. But studies that support his observations are abundant- and I don't notice anyone challenging them, either. More often, it's the sort of material that's passed over unread, so that people like the critics of this article can comfortably maintain their unsupportable assumptions. Propped up, perhaps, by the gauzy recollections of their own long-gone college days, from back in the era when obtaining a bachelor's degree didn't cost as much as buying a house. Before the massive fault lines opened up between the uber-successful classes and the rest of the country...
SAT tutors. What is that, anyway?
2
Thank you for writing this piece. It's information that every college should have.
This article really spoke to me. I, too, went to a rich, liberal arts, small college in Ohio after making it out of my California hood on scholarship. It was the first time I saw such an extreme income disparity. Some comment here that those like me are just whining...basically, that all the hardships build character. But I'd already built plenty of character up to that point. All I did was survive. Then, in college, I just felt bad. I took several jobs so I'd have money to cover books and toiletries and laundry and all the other incidentals that go into just living, I didn't have money for food if I missed the cafeteria hours, or a coffee to stay up all night, or cash to get home to lift my spirits (not that home was safe), or even proper clothes for the Ohio winters. I was able to borrow a down jacket that was too big and out of fashion (yes, that sounds whiny) but I felt ugly, broken, embarrassed and I looked homeless. My fellow classmates asked me why I worked so much, what did I do for the long weekend? Some were at yacht parties in Miami, others took a quick trip to Europe, or went home. It was hard to explain to them why I had to work. Our experience was so different. Our support was so different. And it was hard not to bring that into the classroom...hello imposter syndrome. There were only a handful of us scholarship kids at this school. I think if I had gone to a state school where the income disparity wasn't so extreme, college would have been more fulfilling.
4
I was a first generation college student. I grew up poor in a wealthy area. I got into a small liberal arts school. Freshman year was tough academically and socially, but I got a spot in a dorm and had a food plan. Then over the summer, my dad died. I got more $ in financial aid, but I didn't get a dorm. I had virtually no $, lived off-campus with two roommates in an apartment I could barely afford, sleeping on the floor since I had no $ for a bed or even any furniture. I lived off peanut butter, ramen, and the kindness of a cafeteria staffer who would occasionally wave me in without charging me. It was so hard! And of course I worked, but it's hard to fit in those work hours with class schedules and studying to keep your grades up.
I'm lucky that my family now is doing well enough that we can send our kids to college and give them a little extra $. But it's nothing compared to the hundreds in "allowance" their peers get from their parents.
The whole college "machine" is broken and has been for years. We say you have to go to college, but at what cost?
And those painful calls/letters from home? I got those from my mom. Once she wanted to send me some jewelry to pawn. I did not do it.
5
Similar to some of the other readers, I'm baffled by the dysfunction and even abuse the author describes in this piece, that seems to accepted as a matter of course among low income families.
Pressure and coercion when the young person is barely thriving himself? The job of parents is to raise their children. Children shouldn't be expected to raise their parents.
Why should an 18 year old who can barely take care of himself be called upon by the elders in his family to rescue everyone else?
Putting utilities in his name without his knowing it?
It is one thing to do this to an 18 year old. It would be another if the author, as a grown man, presumably in his 30s and capable of helping his parents, might be asked to do so. That would be a different story.
Someone else mentioned that the schools should be called upon to help the students. That sounds fine; counseling and such support would be ideal. Grants or loans to help defray living expenses? Nothing wrong with those, but it seems that most of the money would be given to family members anyway. As for keeping the dormitories open, what would be the cost effectiveness of such a change?
3
Thanks for sharing your story. So glad you had access to IB level of coursework.....my share.....we poor folk out in the countryside would have our twenty work study hours per week at state U applied to our bill, no cash given directly to us. Brunch on Sunday in dining hall, no dinner was the norm for dormies; one heated up canned soup in a hot pot as there were no microwaves or dorm kitchens back then. Pasta and potatoes were affordable once one got into off campus housing and one learned to study in the heated library to keep the rental bill down. Academics...it was real quiet after first round of freshman tests, as the midnight oil started to be burned to make up for not having AP or IB level high school prep. My papers came back with the 'see me' and I learned how to write a paper from my history prof, who wasn't about to flunk out a smart kid who had the misfortune to be at a high school that couldn't manage to include all students' academic needs. I spent my breaks the first year in the library, re-writing papers. It was decades before the free tutoring center was open to rural students as well as inner city, but now its open to all. I thank my profs for understanding what the rural students needed and allowing us the opportunity to gap fill with all sorts of time extensions and the grading plan that meant a comprehensive final could replace a flunked first test. What I want to see is that public school student in Gr 7-12 has access for free to AP and IB lvl.
6
In the 1970’s my father left us, my mother, myself and my sister, in dire poverty and in emotional turmoil. My sister, brilliant but flawed, was in the process of being diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 16, I had been I in accelerated courses and had just graduated at 15 from HS, my mother a dental hygienist.California at that time had many grants and loans for its state colleges, to make a long story short, the 3 of us all enrolled in the local state college with subsidized loans, all of us graduated with honors 4 years later going on to be professional workers all of our lives.
Was it hard? Yes indeed. Impossible, no. We are eternally grateful for the education gifted to us by a government that believed in our promise. One thing we did have in our favor was cultural capital and a love of reading and learning. Those things helped us to rise above our poverty and emotional distress. I truly believe anyone can do what we did.
3
Terrific article. I think to appreciate one's white privilege, you have to see the many hurdles placed before obviously qualified individuals from economically disadvantaged communities.
And if someday I find myself lying on an operating room table waiting for some critical life saving surgery, I want the most talented surgeon available. That individual might very well be a young man or woman from Professor Jack's Miami neighborhood. (I'm not woke, just selfish.)
5
I picked up something else in this article and it's not to do with Amherst. I think what's more disheartening is Dr. Jack's dysfunctional family who have boundary issues. Why are they calling him at 2am with updates about the neighborhood? He wasn't living there. Why did it take two decades to get his name off the DirectTV bill? This is a family of origin which is clearly enmeshed with no consideration for the younger members of the family who are trying to get out of intergenerational poverty. I came from a family like this so I am not entirely objective but I recognize dysfunction when I read it.
9
His family does come across as selfish. There are lots of poor, black families with first-generation college students in them that don't conduct themselves in that way. They try to be supportive of their kids in anyway they can.
1
Great article and to think Biden didn't acknowledge everything you said in your article about the disadvantages for people without means with many of his comments. Certainly that doesn't help move the subject forward for future changes.
1
Great piece. All I would add is some additional perspective, namely how much of a low-income person's time gets consumed by reliance upon poor-performing local bus service. This applies not only to students like the author but the entire strata of locals whose daily needs are so often overlooked by 'town fathers'.
I quote: "to send money to anyone [...] it would take almost three hours, start to finish, to get to the nearest Walmart, on Route 9, to send a bit of spare cash home by MoneyGram. That ride on the B43 bus was as lonely as it was long."
Google Maps shows that Walmart is a little over two miles from Amherst's campus. For a single four-mile round-trip out & back to eat up 3 hours of anyone's time, perhaps especially a full-time student's time, is a crime. Public officials in charge of the system -locals as well as federals who provide ongoing funding for this terrible performance- should be keel-hauled for perpetuating such blatant inequity and obliviousness/uncaring.
This same situation is obvious to me here in my town, one celebrated for its modern architecture, but whose attention to such on-the-street matters affecting/afflicting its less-fortunate citizens is mostly absent. I've brought it to their attention multiple times over the years but the "administrative state" ignores them and sweeps them under the rug. Apparently, they don't want to *earn* the federal dollars they qualify for just for existing and receive in the mail every year for no effort.
2
Interesting article. Are we now expecting private colleges and universities to be the social engineers of our country? Public or State Universities maybe, but this article and others like it just make we wonder what country we all think we live in. This is the land of opportunity not entitlement. Mr. Jack was given a huge opportunity and yet, he is still a victim, forever a victim. I wish he would free himself from that and instead, celebrate his accomplishment, be grateful to Amherst, and lift economically disadvantaged students (black and WHITE) up, rather then getting them addicted to a life of perpetual victimhood.
5
hard to sympathize with the profrssor's "hardship"...a stint in uniform would have earned him lots of benefits applicable toward education...as it did for at least one first generation american (back then no bilingual classes, "social" deans or much concern of any sort from administrators if the checks cleared), the multi-job undergraduate years (even with the vets benefits and loans) were a struggle familiar to many from "poor" backgrounds, but it wasn't hard to find out what "office hours" meant...and to use them and any other part of the system where there was some elbow room...toward the same ends it appears (professor emeritus).
6
What I take from this essay is how this man's family improperly asked a college student (I'm guessing 18 or 19 years of age) to shoulder very adult responsibilities. Of course, these parental SOS phone calls are a distraction from learning. Of course, he wants to help his family. Yet black families (and I can say this because I come from one) never seem to perceive a clear divide between adult vs child responsibilities. I had very little childhood because I was put to work at 14 -- not because I needed the money -- because my parents were greedy and saw me as another income stream. Every payday I was charged "rent." The irony is this man's family has continued to leech off him, off his name -- basically identity theft -- to get cable TV -- a want, not a need.
9
Life is tough. I can empathize but certainly do not sympathize. Cry me a river, Mr. Jack!
2
OMG!!! Another victim narrative totally out of place when he has won the big lottery with a scholarship to Amherst. I would have more respect for Dr. Jack had he told his story as a narrative of how he overcame hardship to achieve success, which he did.
I grew up in the South Bronx ghetto when heroin and violence ruled the streets. I had to work to support the family, graduated high school with a D average, attended Bronx Community college, regained my footing and made it to University at Albany to study accounting. I am super thankful of the policy Mayor John Lindsey put in place that guaranteed every graduating NYC high school student a place somewhere in the City University system - my dismal high school grades meant my spot was at the local community college. I got a NYC hack license the first day I could at the age of 19 and worked four nights a week to earn money for rent and school expenses. At University of Albany, I would hitch-hike to NYC every Thursday to drive the yellow cab for the weekend to earn $ to pay tuition and room and board. I also got a very part time job at a local restaurant where the tips helped and so did the take-home sandwiches. Dr. Jack is certainly a smart, accomplished man, but rather than use his success to inspire others his approach may actually be a deterrence for others to even try. Dr. Jack, be a hero that you are, not a victim that you are not!
5
I read this article in an entirely different way. First of all, Dr. Jack did not win "the big lottery", he worked incredibly hard as a student in high school. I read this article as an entreaty to elite universities to make sure they are giving the support their low income students need. This will not benefit him at all as he has already made it, but he is working to make sure those who follow him have an even better chance.
12
Getting a scholarship to a prestigious school such as Amherst is still a bit of a lottery win if the alternative was a scholarship to Bethune-Cookman or Florida State - neither of which would have resulted in a position at Harvard. Working hard in school should be expected of kids. For a kid like this one, learning was an imperative, not an option. I was the same. That said, he needed to learn to distance himself from the needs of those left at home -rather than increasing his own load by sending money when the calls came. Instead of increasing the responsibility of the colleges to provide more and more such as housing during holidays and food options when the school is closed, perhaps a program for high school students that would encourage them to review these potential challenges when choosing which college to attend. As Malcolm Gladwell has written, the state school with more affordable costs may be a better value for some than the big name school with more stressors.
4
Excellent article! Not only explaining what his experience had been like but the several realistic solutions to solving these problems in attempts to level the playing field for all. Well done!
3
After more than 30 years since I graduated from a predominantly white, elite university, it is sad to know the missing elements for minority (or any low income student) students still exists. The lack of "a human touch" is the primary reason I don't have a strong bond, as an alumna, with that university. We attend these universities but are left to sink or swim. Additionally, to see our university's quarterly magazine, year after year, include wedding/event pictures from former alumni that are devoid of "minority friends" leaves me even more disheartened.
4
I never received a scholarship and paid for my college by working, while living on my own. No one there to help me. No one. Get used to it. It's called work. Work hard, save your money. No one else will do it for you. If you have parents who can afford to help or have grants or scholarships, I envy you. I never had this, but I also didn't complain that I had to work to get ahead. My parents would have laughed at me. You worked. Period. It's hard? Oh well. Today's college students want their student loans paid for, or free education, free food, free lodging. What world are they living in?
4
"I never received a scholarship and paid for my college by working, while living on my own."
In what years did you attend college? I bring up that question because
even at public colleges- where the costs of college have increased much more slowly than private schools- the cost of tuition and fees approximately tripled between 1990 and 2015. https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-boCafbOlOnM/VeLzWb2AFzI/AAAAAAAABaI/GOIpkr5ZWyY/s1600/TuitionHistory.png
That's to say nothing of what's happened to the rent in a lot of college towns.
2
I loved reading this article. I too had to endure not going home for Thanksgiving or Christmas at College. It was a lonely place with no resources for those left behind.
As for the rest of the details: What a story! Every detail resonates and makes sense. Thank you for writing this.
5
This article points out the big divide between the haves and the have-nots. I came from a lower middle class white family who saw no reason for me to go to college. So a worked full-time during my teen summers in retail and babysat at night to save money for college. I went to a small Georgia college for two years as a work study student and also worked as a waitress on weekends. I took the bus home when school was out. No vacations to sunny climes during Spring Break. So while I understand the author's concerns, I'm not so sure I agree with his solutions. Fifty years later, I'm still surrounded by well-off folks who can do as they please while money is super tight for me. That's life!
6
Outstanding article. The struggle to be upwardly mobile is complex, and Prof. Jack has broached it in an eloquent, firsthand piece. Many of the commenters have noted that Prof. Jack's is not a singular experience. In fact, many point out other situations of bias or presumption, such as the Asian-American child of a single parent, or the inner city African-American raised in a stable, 2-parent home. I will add low income, rural kids to the take home points of this article. While each scenario presents its own unique hills to surmount, they are all engaged in a similar upward climb, and it is important for institutions of higher learning to not only be aware of these students and their goals, but to understand the role they can play (be it through advisors, mentors, or campus policies) in helping these students achieve those goals.
3
Dr. Jack isn't complaining, he's telling a truth that needs to be understood. His story took me back to my own freshman year at a University of California campus in the late '60s: not having the $6 or so to take a Greyhound home to Los Angeles, I spent a school break sleeping in the women's bathroom lounge. (I was rescued when a counselor came to campus for some reason and saw me walking around the empty campus). However, whatever the physical hardship, it didn't compare to the pain inflicted in my freshman semester at USC when a Teaching Assistant refused to believe/accept that I, a black woman, had researched and written an outstanding paper on some business topic. She lobbied against me so vociferously that only the Dean of the school could settle the matter by presenting my outstanding GMAT scores. While I believe that some of these attitudes have changed, it is still a truth that poor and minority youth have few of the supports (and crutches) that so many others enjoy.
12
Such a thoughtful article. It is clear, balanced, and does not deserve some of the negativity I have read in these comments. My sense is that while the author's story would lead some to feeling empathy, others feel defensive and respond with misplaced criticism.
This article just is what it is. It is not a complaining, blaming article. It is just this person's story, being shared to provide a more full appreciation for the various types of student experiences. For me, working in higher education, I appreciate that the author shared such a personal, honest story. I can see similarities with some students I encounter and I appreciate the author's willingness to share. Learning about others makes us all better.
8
Powerful piece, reminding professors that they need to know their students. Thanks for hitting on the science fair experience, I consider it an educational practice that privileges the already privileged.
5
I was also a low-income college student. I paid my own way and I was an older student, not the same age as my peers, also autistic. I attended community college first and transferred to the University of Michigan to save money. I worked 20 hours a week while maintaining a full class load and ate sandwiches, also to save money. I took out loans, I applied for scholarships. It was difficult and challenging but I graduated with high distinction and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world and I certainly wouldn't complain about it. It was a large university. Some profs were supportive and approachable, some weren't. I grew up on a farm and worked Saturdays my entire life. I'm sorry your Saturdays were "stolen" from you for a short period to study for the SAT.
3
You really didn't read the article if your take on it was the sarcastic "I'm sorry your Saturdays were "stolen" from you for a short period to study for the SAT."
5
I have a great deal of admiration for successful people who don't talk about the hardships they endured to get where they are, who instead spend their time trying to zero in on the serious social issues that plague us--especially the ones they themselves survived. Colleges today provide numerous safety nets to catch those who need help. How about directing attention to the core issue of kids growing up in violence and poverty? Much harder than asking colleges to do even more for the few who get that far.
2
Great article, so much to take away, so I'll just address one major issue of colleges written in the story: The shutting down of everything on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and spring breaks; and often summer months.
Colleges desperately covet international and out-of-state students, mostly for the tuition money. Then they get there and don't support them whole-heartedly.
Would it really cost them that much to keep the cafeteria open and let the out-of-area students live in their residence halls?
For being run by a bunch of smart people, colleges sure can be dumb quite often
13
I forgot to add one other point. Poor white first generation students do indeed experience similar difficulties to their peers-of-color, HOWEVER, they are still part of the majority white university population. Poor students-of-color additionally confront/experience their minority status constantly, something that is difficult for those of us who are white to fully comprehend. Again, this is not accusatory or whiny; it is descriptive and factual. And again, they face implicit and explicit bias most of the time.
1
Excellent and succinct contribution to the meaning of the Truth.
1
Thank you. Very eye opening for me.
1
Ok, many of us have encountered the problems Jack outlines (I am a white male former foster child) but, at the same time, Jack seems to have reaped significant benefits--a professor at Harvard! a published book! a Times article--by carving a very "privileged" Ivy Tower career out of the inequities he bemoans.
3
Dr. Jack--You had it wrong when in college. It wasn't your responsibility to take care of your family. Maybe after you "made it" should or could you have then tried to help them out. It was your responsibility to help yourself succeed. Having been given that opportunity by the college with admission, free tuition, room & board, your after school jobs should have been used to support yourself. Maybe that money, then could have been used to feed yourself during vacations. It is not the school's responsibility to support your family.
3
Administrators, professors, and most students at elite colleges don’t understand they are part of a small professional class subculture that is indifferent, even hostile, to minority working-class culture. They assume everyone wants the privilege they have. Their students staff the top 15% technical and managerial class that thrives at Wall Street and Silicon Valley, while two-thirds of Americans work paycheck to paycheck. Trump has exaggerated their flaws to stoke resentment of the “liberal elite” and anti-intellectualism in his base. Free tuition at state universities will democratize education in America.
3
i was the first person in my family to go to college. i came from a nice, white, middle working class family... i got loans to pay for room and board and a little extra from my high school to pay for books after i finished my first semester. but i had 6 younger brothers and sisters at home, and never thought about how i wouldn't be able to go home at thanksgiving, or spring break, and i would be in my dorm room, alone most of the time, without cafeteria services. this article brought back the loneliness, and frustration of trying to eat out of a vending machine, when i was down to almost nothing. i worked in the cafeteria while school was in session, but was out of luck when it wasn't. i couldn't ask my parents for more money, though i was fortunate they never asked me for any. i finished two years and then the frustration and loneliness kept me from going back. i was very friendly with many of my dorm mates -- why did not one think to ask me home with them for holidays? that might be a program on campuses that would help many foreign students or financial aide students who cannot afford trips home ... i might have stuck it out longer if i had some sort of support system. thank you professor jack... i might see if our local college campuses have such a program. i'd be happy to feed some hard working students at thanksgiving this year!
7
I deeply appreciate this piece as one who knows. I attended Vassar on scholarship in the late 90s, and while I had work study jobs and other means of making money (doing hair, writing for publication) the author's insight about bringing home and the communities one is bound to as a first generation student really struck a chord in me. My mother's mental health made it hard for her to care for her self well but also to stay in one place for long; so when she was evicted sophomore year, I had to drop everything in the midst of a full course load to assist with what little resources I had. The stress of that was compounded by the reality that the author points out so well, which is that I was abundantly aware and constantly reminded that there was no safety net for me. That I was at Seven Sisters college and I had better be grateful I was there and not complain when I didn't have money left over to eat or I wasn't sure if I would have a home to go to when Spring Break came. Thank you for sharing this story and for telling our full story.
3
I'm white and now a graduate of several elite universities. By appearance and CV, I have the look of privilege. But I grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Chicago where being white never put me in the majority and I attended Chicago Public Schools that did not really prepare me academically or socially for my large state university filled with students from wealthy Chicago suburbs. I never struggled with food insecurity - I could take the bus home for breaks - but I worked a lot of hours to pay for the everything that was not tuition. I share Prof Jack's sentiments of having to decode a new world when I entered college and feeling very out of place. However, being white, I had the experience of people thinking I was "like them" even when I didn't feel it and had a constant sense of difference. That experience made me appreciate the complexity of how race and class intersect with access to and success in higher education. I think this is an outstanding piece that highlights this complexity and hopefully moves the conversation beyond simple categories.
6
I was the first in my family to go to college, a small local liberal arts school, almost 60 years ago. I lived at home and worked 20 hours a week to pay tuition. I had no idea what "office hours" meant. To me, the faculty seemed to have "pets" (mostly residents of the dorms) they encouraged and gave opportunities to. Even though I had good grades and made the dean's list, I was invisible to them. It sickens me to realize how naive I was.
2
I've never felt more identified with a piece. I experienced similar struggles as an undergraduate at Syracuse University but I guess I was so accustomed to dealing with it all that I never stopped to wonder if other people had similar experiences. I now realize that some of my peers might have been dealing with that as well, yet we must have been too ashamed or proud to admit it to one another, which probably prevented us from potentially helping each other and sharing resources. Talking about this openly and bringing awareness about these realities is so important, because at the very least it will show students facing these challenges that they are not alone, and that they can find support in each other.
5
I was admitted to better schools but could not afford to go. So I lived at home, attended community college, and finished graduate school at the state university on an assistantship. I lived with five roommates in a dump with an unheated living room (and no AC in the deep South) and plumbing that regularly failed. Bought my clothes at the thrift shop. I had no idea what office hours were when I started college. If someone asked me to go for coffee, I would have simply said, "I can't afford that". I never had a vacation during break. I used to hitchhike home during breaks if I couldn't find a ride. I thought vacations were things people did on TV. Never went out to eat, and when I finally did, I was shocked at the price of a hamburger at Burger King. None of this hurt me. I am comfortably retired today with three homes.
I think we should make higher education cheaper, but "not knowing what office hours were" is a silly complaint. And not everyone needs to go to an elite school. There are plenty of people who have done very well indeed without going to Harvard. I have never once envied my classmates who went on to fancier schools.
Thank you for telling me that the "h" is Amherst is silent. I had no idea.
8
I immigrated from South America at the age of 15 and lived my first 2 years in a rough part of Brick City. I would not surprise me to find out that most of the young people I met in the early 80s in that neighborhood are dead, or are or have been in jail.
We can blame these individuals or maybe even their parents but we fail to realize that for many young people the odds are stacked up against them.
A large number of countries around the world provide public college education. This provides a somewhat viable path to middle class or at least out of poverty. The same option here would serve to somewhat level the playing field
There might or might not be privilege but there is certainly inequality, unfairness and disastrous disadvantage.
Lets party on!
2
I fully agree that America doesn’t do enough to support the education of its citizens, and I’ve long advocated for the feds to subsidize all of it’s HS graduates in the top 7%GPA. However, there are a bazillion grants, loans and scholarships available to Americans, though I can see by the comments section that you are not alone in thinking these to be nonexistent. They exist! They are there for everyone to access and I am living proof that an excellent education can be had for peanuts if one will just put in a little research to find these opportunities. Every high school has a career and college center, along with a counselor, that will give a prospective college student all of the info necessary to succeed.
I'm curious as to why the author would think this is something restricted to lower income minorities and not just lower income PEOPLE?
I was on welfare when I started college. My wife and I working full time, minimum wage jobs and caring for our son. I had had a work injury and could not do manual labor jobs too well anymore, so, decided to go to school and expand my work horizons.
I never went to high school, dropped out after 8th grade.
I earned my GED in prison at 18, after years of juvenile lockup through my teens.
Let's just put it mildly and say that I missed the 80's due to incarceration...
So, here I am, 41 years old, an ex-con, ex-junkie working garbage jobs for minimal pay trying to do the best for my family. I had no clue about anything, so, I learned how to do what was needed to get my education. I worked, took night classes and worked and studied and worked. Hardly any sleep, poor still, always hungry for more knowledge and food.
Long story shortened (there's oh, so much more to this), after 6 years I received my bachelors in IT Networks from the University of Arizona, Class of 2008, 47 years old and a new daughter to add to our family.
Today, I make more money than I've ever dreamed of making, own 2 homes and live and work in Brussels, Belgium. Soon to go back home to our great country. I'm 55 now and life looks good.
My point? Again, this is a PEOPLE issue, not a minority issue.
And the question begs, How bad do you want it?
7
Where in the article did he say this was an experience that was " restricted to lower income minorities and not just lower income PEOPLE"?
5
Brilliantly illuminating. When my father, from a privileged family, arrived at boarding school in Europe many decades ago, he befriended Petro, a boy from a penniless peasant family who was there on a scholarship. "The difference between you and me?" Petro told him. "When you were 2, your mother slapped your wrist for tearing a magazine or crayoning in a book..........I never saw a book, or a magazine, or a newspaper, till I was 6 and started grade school." My father repeated that story often to remind us of the countless advantages of privilege and the corrosive societal costs of poverty. And nothing has changed.
4
As a white person coming from a background of poverty, neglect, and abuse, my family didn't value a college education. It was never talked about much less encouraged. My high school friends were bragging about going good private schools and that wasn't an option for me. I won't go into into too many details because there are so many of us who have persevered with similar and even worse situations. Part of college is learning how to survive in a world that isn't fair. It makes us stronger and better capable to deal with the real world. As a female, I became very successful working in a hugely male dominated profession- and let me tell you a LOT of discrimination. I was invisible. I was never invited to the lunches where important information was shared. I was never asked my opinion. I did more work and didn't get credit for it, had my ideas stolen, passed up for promotions blah blah blah. Many of us have overcome circumstances that are unthinkable for those who have not lived through them. Part of college is learning how to survive in a world that isn't fair. It makes us stronger and better capable to deal with the real world. Academia has its has it's challenges but I've been on both sides and it's nothing like a high stress profession. Maybe you don't realize how very tough it is out there. It's not a place where your personal challenges are coddled and given sympathy. It's a place where you will really appreciate and rely on your survival skills.
7
Incredible article. Thank you.
4
Great piece. But remember that generations of Jews and other "ethnic" whites in WASP America had to walk a very similar walk through the Harvards and Amhersts of America without any special help or consideration whatsoever. I'm a white guy who stood with King in his glory days in my native Atlanta, now correctly called "the Black Mecca" by blacks. As Atlanta exemplifies, W.E.B. DuBois' "talented tenth" is doing pretty well in America now. The task remains to lift up the others. Anyway, let's hope elite colleges listen to what Jack is saying.
1
So because they struggled, everybody else should suffer as they did and nothing should change? What's your point exactly? How is him telling him story dismissive of the struggles of "generations of Jews and other "ethnic" whites in WASP America"?
2
LaLupa, you ask if I have a problem with Mr. Jack being a Dr. My answer is absolutely not - wrote what I wrote to emphasize what other responders seemed to overlook by referring to Mr. Jack as Mr. Jack. I never imagined my statement would be interpreted as derogatory to Dr. Jack.
1
BRAVO! Great Story--Hope to Hear Many More Like it....
1
This piece moved me enormously. And it inspired me to act on something I've wanted to for some time. My story is different: I was lucky enough to go to a good boarding school paid for by my Dad - a writer who didn't have a lot of money himself. My parents were divorced and my Mom couldn't afford to visit me so an unnecessary wedge was created when a couple hundred dollars would have made a world of difference. A couple hundred dollars would have connected her to my new 13 year old world. In the end it was tragic because we missed out on precious time together not knowing she would die a few years later. It's very different but it too was something a school didn't see.
2
I am shocked at how many people feel free to attack this article and it's author. This is an important piece and the vulnerability and honesty is moving. Yes, poverty and racism are pervasive and complicated. But that doesn't mean that institutions (and individuals) don't share in responsibility to ameliorate long-standing inequities. Colleges pay enormous salaries to administration while ignoring the needs of students. Why shouldn't they be more responsive the needs of disadvantaged students? The country benefits when people are able to reach their potential. Those that see this as simply whining might also see that the economy benefits when we give the brightest a fair chance to succeed. My heart shrivels when I see such cold responses, especially from those who have "been there." Thank you, professor, for sharing your story. You didn't have to, but you obviously did so to help the ones that come after you. That is called being a decent human being and more valuable than any degree.
6
Why is it too much to ask that in the land of plenty to make available basic needs (food, shelter, clothing) to our children? And for that mater why do we debate as a society whether it is worth spending the resources to allow anyone who want to pursue higher education with the opportunity to do so.
Do we not all benefit? Must an education be earned beyond the hard work of study and self improvement? Do we really need to add to the burden of only some of the students, while letting those who happened to be born into wealth have the advantage of not dealing with it?
Education, health care and basic needs for our country is not too much to ask of our wealthy. It will make us a better nation.
2
First generation college student from poor and extremely poor families all understand this drill. I used to joke that college was more a sidebar than a real pursuit because in spite of triple majoring and taking 20 hours of classes each semester, I was working upwards of 60 hours per week to pay for them. At least things have lightened a bit. In the late 70s early 80s there still didn't exist hardship consideration for scholarships; you either got a 4.0 or you didn't get one. Those of us who worked 30+ hours per week supporting our parents' households just couldn't make the cut; there simply wasn't enough time in the day. For breaks, I was fortunate enough to get a small (and very cheap) refrigerator in which I would stock extra helpings from the cafeteria shortly before breaks and live off the leftovers. Breaks weren't breaks, just periods when you could work without the added distraction of doing coursework. It's exhausting, and Professor Jack elucidated that perfectly. Poor First Generation College Students have to handle their own bills and represent themselves at school; no one in their family has any idea what to do, and you're right there anyway on the proverbial front-line. Most of us growing up poor were ignored by our high school counselors, especially if the district itself wasn't poor, because we didn't know which wheel to grease and had to figure everything out for the first time.
Middle class people have no clue, and it really needs to change.
3
The only thing this article proved to me is that poor, disadvantaged kids should go to city and state colleges as generations of immigrants (especially in NYC) did to get ahead (i.e. BERNIE SANDERS & ELIZABETH WARREN). Bernie went to Brooklyn College when it was free and Elizabeth attended Rutger's Law School, the state law school. The social/emotional adjustments are monumental to climb and no "program" or money is going to make that any easier.
I, personally attended a state school, as a first generation college student and found meeting middle and upper middle class kids to be a disparity from my blue collar, working class background. Many grew up in single family homes with green lawns and had educated parents. While I never went hungry, I knew nothing of the importance of the SAT nor studied for it. (I graduated 25 in a class of 1200). Nor did I know of the many cultural class differences that divide us. And by the way, while I eventually made it to the upper middle class, my son attended Princeton, the son of a doctor, and felt "poor" in comparison to many elite students who were dirt rich and privileged. Unless we become a communist nation without any differences, there will ALWAYS be necessary adjustments to make in order to climb. The author should stop whining and be grateful for the opportunity that was afforded to him. It was never going to be easy.
9
Thanks to Mr. Jack writing about the cultural and financial chasm that defines rich from poor, privileged from poverty and haves from the have nots. His emancipation from the streets to scholarly is amazing and a true testament to what can be undertaken. I myself was a kid from a lower income hard working family who did the same thing. Reading his story brought back memories of my work study and off campus jobs that shaped my college experience. What saved me is that I worked in the cafeteria in my large dorm. I would often be the one clearing the dirty trays and plates that students turned in after their meals. I was amazed at the amount of food they would throw away however that is how I managed to eat. I always had a goodie bag that I would keep stocked in my dorm room with food from their trays. I also worked the research animal kennel at the lab, cashier at the campus bookstore. On my breaks I would study and make use of every minute that wasn't devoted to work, sleep or class. One Spring break I didn't have bus fare, it was $6.25, home for the 80 mile one way trip so I got on my 10 speed and rode there. I didn't think of myself as underprivileged. Not knowing anything else but hard work as the means to achieve I just did whatever it took to succeed and carried on. There are plenty of stories like mine and Mr. Jacks, it is a testament to the American Dream we all shape for ourselves.
1
As a professor, certainly I've noticed over the years is that what causes students difficulty and sometimes keeps them from graduation is stuff that happens outside the classroom. I've have students overcome remarkable hardships and succeed. I've had others that simply could not. (And of course a great many that had pretty "normal" college experiences).
The only thing I really know that helps is that when things start to become difficult, the student reaches out and informs their professors and asks for help. Professors are often willing to do what they can in relation to the academic side of things to help when things go wrong in the rest of life. But we have to know and we aren't always very proactive in finding out. Don't disappear!! Tell us.
5
There is and was a McDonald's in Amherst, professor. And as far as I know, we're not yet not charged for walking, so being unable to "afford to leave campus" is an interesting statement.
6
What's is also interesting is the hostile tone taken, here. A black man offering an opinion on his post secondary education experience isn't something that should incite such a hateful response. Given these days and times in the good, old US of A, it's not surprising to encounter a blind, hateful reply to a simple essay on growing up and getting ahead, no matter how hard it might be to read the composition. Go take a walk! You may live longer, but hate more, lest you change your attitude. I vote for education!
3
Why so mean? He said he had to budget his earnings for times when the cafeteria was closed during breaks and he had to go elsewhere for food.
1
I teach low income, first generation college students, and classes are the hard part.
4
I hope you have enough compassion to realize what it takes for low income kids to get to college, and that the gaps in their education are because of circumstances not of their own making.
2
N's point is that the author acts as if the only challenges facing low-income, first generation college students are non-academic in nature. That's not true. Many struggle because they haven't been properly prepared.
1
Thanks for writing and publishing this piece. I was not really aware this was going on, but hopefully we can start demanding the schools be more supportive to the kids who need help. They should be identified and offered support on day 1 of their relationship with the school. Especially well endowed universities, there just is no excuse for any student not to eat 3 square meals a day, especially during breaks. This country truly can afford each of our citizens a great education, basic transportation, healthcare and good nutrition.
I was one of those students, many years ago, and frankly, I always felt superior to my wealthy classmates who'd had their education handed on a platter. It had taken tremendously hard work for me to get to college, so my study habits were already ingrained. And I never took anything for granted--heat in the dorms, my own bed, a full buffet of food in the cafeteria, security on campus--these were true luxuries. I'm not patting myself on the back; I'm just pointing out that many of these students are likely more resilient than assumed--or, at least, they can be if given the chance. Isn't that one of the qualities we're trying to cultivate in the next generations?
13
I stumbled into a resiliency building program at San Francisco State University that took us sand lot kids (those most likely to fail based on all outward appearances) and turned us into thriving leaders. It was the coolest thing I ever experienced. I was 50 and a successful business and community developer when I took a sabbatical to study human and group development at SFSU. The community and resiliency building I experienced through SFSU's community service learning program was the best part of college - and I don't just mean the most fun or the one place I was expected to participate and dialogue - I mean it was the one program that integrated everything I was learning about how to make a healthy human and group. The rest of my classes just told me what to do, didn't actually do it. Oh, you want to know the recipe for healthy human development? Easy! 5 ingredients: generate a sense of belonging through caring relationships, build skills in all 4 domains of development (emotional, physical, mental and social), provide clear and high expectations that are relatable and attainable, meaningful participation and community involvement.
3
Universities and colleges cannot solve all of the social ills in society; nor can public schools. What we need is a different public policy that includes guaranteed healthcare, affordable housing, and a higher minimum wage. That would be a good start.
10
It is interesting to read that this man had the same problems I did, only I didn’t go to Amherst, or any such fancy school. I was hungry all the time, ate Reese’s or col leftover pizza for breakfast and depended on stray meals from friends often. I worked two, three or four jobs. I played pinball for money. My calls from home had nothing to do with the type of lives the middle-class kids had. I am a white woman. I found that my sex continued to repress me because my financial officer and most everyone else didn’t think it was important for me to have an education. The writer seems to hav done well for himself. Better than me.
5
Wow. Enlightening and sobering. Thank you, Asst. Prof. Anthony Jack.
2
You didn’t have internet at home but you had Direct TV?
4
Do you understand timelines? They didn't have direct TV at home when he was away at college!
It clearly states
"I got a text from home days before my 32nd birthday — after I’d gone to college, earned my doctorate and secured my position as a professor — asking me to “call DirectTV and take your name off the bill.” I had to ask: “My name on the bill? Since when?” The response: “Since we been living here.”
It had been almost two decades."
2
It's even harder for Native American students. Black and Latinx kids tend to consider them even more foreign than White ones.
4
Normally, I would complain that these types of essays in the NYT are a paid promo for a book.
But, in this case, I think the essay and book need to be read.
4
Excellent piece by someone who knows the drill because he's walked the walk. Many of us encountered similar struggles at elite colleges where kids from legacy families regularly got dead drunk, slept in, missed classes and flunked out, because their familial safety net would catch and save them. Glad to hear Mr. Jack persisted....and won...that's the only way. Congrats to him!
22
Jean Webster documented much of the same thing a century ago in 'Daddy Long Legs' about an orphan sent to college. (Available free at gutenberg.org)
Although supplied with $35 per month so she can appear equal with her peers, the girl struggles with the social class differences.
Back then students who remain on campus during shorter breaks weren't left to starve. How times change!
3
Historically Black colleges have always provided the support you mentioned to its students. More importantly, the communities surrounding these colleges still aid and support black students. Yet, young black men and women have abandon these universities in droves.
5
A StopNShop supermarket is about half a mile from Amherst College. About a mile down the road there are several fast food places and a Trader Joe's.
5
I do not experience Professor Jack's piece as "whining" at all. He is elucidating what it is like to be a poor first generation Black student at an elite university. Yes, first generation whites from poorer backgrounds also share some of these problems but what they do not share is the rampant racism of our society and its damaging effects. Of course there should be help for all first-generation students and maybe additional help for those with other issues, including family obligations. But why the nastiness, as though it's a zero-sum situation? Ed K: do you have a problem with the author being a Dr. or Professor? What's with the "Mr. uh Dr. Jack?" And Sirlar, who suggests that Dr. Jack's missing father provides the key to everything: even if his father were fully employed and part of his life (which he may have been), he would not have been earning much due to the nature of employment opportunities and education in poor neighborhoods AND he would not have had more cultural capital than Dr. Jack's mother in terms of how universities work. That is a straw man/father.
20
Harvard has an organization for first generation students. That sounds like a great place for people who feel at sea. It can't be the only college with one.
"Harvard College First Generation Student Union
Purpose Statement
Harvard Primus is concerned with the welfare and representation of first generation college students, socioeconomically-disadvantaged students, and students from under-resourced high schools and communities currently enrolled at Harvard College. Primus has three main objectives: (1) To facilitate the transition to college for the students we represent through initiatives such as providing mentorship networks and sharing academic and social resources among members; (2) To foster a sense of community among our members; and (3) To provide the students we serve with a platform to express their voice and to advocate for themselves."
https://osl.fas.harvard.edu/student-organizations
2
They should have additional stipends for these financial aid students, and also mental and financial health advisors.
It's ridiculous that a school as well known and well endowed as Amherst should let students go hungry when the meal halls close.
They should have a financial-match for the jobs they perform for the school, and they should also be aware if the student needs to send money home to support the family.
It's the height of hypocrisy to use these students for their glossy brochures, and do nothing to support them.
But given the hollowness of academia - the insane tuition, safe spaces, looney left or right wing positions, professors on food stamps, it's not surprising that they let the ball drop on these students.
8
If Professor Jack thinks that what he experienced is something new, he should think again.
My father went to college and law school during the depression. He attended both full time at night while he held a full time job at the same time. He was supporting not only himself but his parents and siblings and had to send a part of his salary home for this. Many times a meal consisted of mock tomato soup: free hot water and ketchup at a cafeteria. And he received not one bit of financial aid nor any moral or psychological supports from his schools. He was not alone in his experience as most of his friends were in the same boat.
No, he wasn't black. But he was Jewish at a time when anti-semitism was widely accepted.
5
He never purported to show his experience as unique and him telling his experience isn't an invalidation of your father's. Why are you reading it that like? More like you're projecting your own interpretation based upon your feelings about black people or poor people?
2
So much mini-drama and so little context.
"I wasn’t doing practice tests either. I couldn’t afford the book". Yeah let me guess there are no libraries in Miami and there is no internet in Miami.
The author of this piece and the author of “The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students.” has made a lifelong gig of grievance parading. He was given a world class education despite dubious credentials and perpetuates the victim mentality.
5
Thank you so much for these interesting insight into your course of education. I am from Germany, and we have almost the same problems here. When your not having a wealthy family background or somebody in your family already reached a academic grade, your very alone with the situation. You'll make it though, but it could be much easier. Not to talk about things like self-confidence when you are confronted with so many new rules you don't know. Maybe it would be interesting to connect and talk about it. The website is https://www.arbeiterkind.de/startseite This is a network from working class students who already graded from university or are still studying and help others who need orientation and support.
2
Reading some of the comments to this article just disgusted me. Where is the empathy? The caring extended to another person?
Someone commented that white students should get the same treatment as black students--really? That white person would die, keel over, immediately, if they had to live a moment of a black person's life.
And anyway: this is not about black or white; it's about poverty and equity.
3
From an NYT article earlier this year:
"Students who don’t live with their parents get a monthly stipend from the government of about $900 for living costs."
That country would be Denmark.
( https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/28/reader-center/international-college-costs-financing.html )
When Bernie advocates for free college the first question from the millionaire anchors/hosts is "how can we afford to give away school for free". Millionaire politicians like Hillary want it means-tested like the Goldwater Girl she is. I say how can we not afford it? It is an investment in the future.
In order to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, you first need to have bootstraps. Those bootstraps can be financial or instructional.
In another recent NYT article about the Army/West Point football program, they mentioned USMAPS, a prep school to ramp up bright kids not quite ready for the academics of the academy. It showed how these students that are given an intense year of preparation not only made it in the academy, they thrived. They often are top performers among their classmates who came in from more advantaged backgrounds.
Maybe more selective schools should consider an on-campus prep academy for similar students, to get them adapted to the full spectrum of the collegiate experience.
2
Thank you for writing this. I would argue that many upscale people are far too unaware or perhaps, even indifferent of the struggles that lower income and poor students endure.
13
Great article. The changes Mr. Jack suggest would have helped me, a blue collar white kid, when I attended an expensive private university on scholarship too. While my woes weren't as dire as having to help pay rent back home, the exclusion that happens when you can't afford meals or need to work were defining elements of my undergraduate experience. My rich friends could phone home for anything, where I had to constantly adapt. Those disparities echoed far out into the career world as well as my more economically privileged friends leaned on family to get internships that helped their careers while I worked whatever jobs I could get. While Mr. Jack's article only gave a glimpse of the extra disparities coming from true poverty felt like, I think his solutions would help most blue-collar students as well.
5
I graduated from Duke in 1976 and went through school grindingly poor. My grants did not pay for me to live on campus and starting school at 21, I was used to living on my own. I did not have the energy to attend language labs or stay late on campus at the library. I drove a junker that ran out of gas weekly because I did not have more than $2 gas money. I graduated with honors but could have done so much more if I had the means to actually eat and rest. I often did not have enough money after rent ($76) to pay the electric bill. I "liberated" coal from an abandoned house nearby for heat. Duke students were so despised by the townspeople that finding part time work was difficult. And the worst part was the constant accusation that I must be rich and spoiled to attend the university. College was not a time of learning for me; it was a time of misery. I rejected multiple offers from several grad schools just to escape into a fulltime job.
7
Yes, low income college students have to work harder and have to do with less. I'm not sure what the difference is today than in the 1970s.
I was the oldest son of a low-income family with 6 children. We could not afford college for me, let alone for all of my siblings. We lived on a street adjacent to Charter Oak Terrace in Hartford, which was then the most violent project in the city. We understood all about paycheck pressures and neighborhood violence.
In order to go to a state university, not an Ivy League or near-equivalent, I worked a 36 hour a week job during my entire undergraduate years. Before going to college, I enlisted in the US Army for 3 yrs out of high school. The combination of GI Bill and a near full time job got me through college and taught me a lot of lessons.
It wasn't "fair" in that kids from West Hartford, Greenwich, and all the rich towns in CT didn't have to do what I and thousands of others did to get the degree. They had advantages then that we didn't. I was resentful and scornful of those who had it made. So what. Life is not fair.
Achieving a college education can be done by anyone with the will to make it happen. Students don't need the armies of school administrators etc to make it happen. That army only increases the cost of a college education and distorts the purpose of a college education.
6
This is an excellent article. As an advisor at an Ivy League college I had advises in just this predicament. The toughest part was their reluctance in sharing and appearing vulnerable and once I understood some of what they were going through, feeling unable to offer real solutions without causing embarrassment. It’s only when we understand their challenges that we can offer help. Your article spells out what many are experiencing and will hopefully continue to raise awareness and produce some real solutions.
4
Perhaps one solution that would help would be scholarships that helped or provided living expenses for poorer college students.It probably would not run to airfares home during breaks but could avoid some of the non academic pressures of life as an Ivy student.
4
If ever you wondered what white privilege sounded like... this comments section tells it all.
I was from an upper middle class family in a town that hosted "A Better Chance" students in our high school. The need for supportive "family" life -- in their case a group dorm -- was critical for their achievement in my upper-middle class town. They learned the secret codes of my world, and secret rules we imposed on them. Most went on to successful careers. An "ABC-kid" from another school even became governor.
It isn't classes that are the hard part... it is class assumptions.
5
That sounds like a nice program, but not everyone needs that. I'm Black and attended a private school on a scholarship. I applied through a now-defunct program but many of my other Black scholarship schoolmates came through A Better Chance. I thought that program was uneven: some students were excellent and more than up to the challenge of more demanding academics and having mostly wealthier classmates, some were not even that interested in school work.
I am tired of reading articles and editorials in which Black people are being treated like victims without agency and resourcefulness. The Civil Rights leaders of the '60s and all the people who came before must be rolling in their graves.
1
A lot of students struggle when they get to college. At an ivy college I saw some struggle with being far from home, others struggle with a new climate, and many struggle with the burden of academics or with the feeling that 'they did not belong here'. Rich or poor, black or white, male or female, the transition is tough. Today there are more mental health and physical health support services in the schools. Yet still, there are many people who dropout due to stress.
2
As many have described below, these words resonate well with poor first gen students, like myself. I am also an immigrant which added a special wrinkle. The challenge of going through college and post-graduate education was profound not only because of financial constraints, but also because of the social norms that had been established for years in what I thought then were 'normal' families, unlike mine, which served as nearly daily remainders that I did not belong. The night of my graduation from graduate school at an ivy-league institution, all students seemed to be celebrating out with their families at the most fancy of restaurants. My family and I did as well, except it was me who had to pick up the bill that I covered from my internship money. I didn't want my friends to know that my parents had to stay with me for the weekend as we couldn't afford a hotel and that I was going to have to pay for all their meals during graduation weekend. And yet, I consider myself lucky. I had two loving parents who supported me and allowed me to take a journey from food stamps and low income housing to a joyful life with a good career. Still, those moments, so many of them, bring back bitter memories and will always serve as a reminder of who I am.
12
Is is realistic to expect colleges to single-handedly rectify all the societal inequities described by the author? This expectation seems to attribute almost magical powers to colleges. Certainly they can do obvious things such as improve access to dining for students who remain on campus, but they can't compensate for a prior lifetime of disadvantage, nor for families who expect continuous remittances from students who are struggling mightily themselves.
10
College isn't Disney World.
2
A friend of mine wrote an article about black grandmothers raising children for another publication. It was based on solid research, superbly written, but it had the aim of getting the upper middle class to feel the proverbial 5 seconds of sympathy. This is because the author was a multimillionaire. His son had just graduated from Harvard. He had recently returned from a vacation to Patagonia, Argentina. He had never been hungry in his life. As excellent as the article was, it was also inauthentic.
I contribute James Joyce's comment, "The supreme question about a work of art is out of how deep a life does it spring." This article makes the grade. It has actionable intelligence. College administrators can read this and just follow the advice, because they know it's right. We need more people like Prof. Jack, who are generous enough to spend the time explaining these situations. I thank the good professor for his patience.
8
It is shocking that no one on the faculty or staff at Amherst thought of asking you over for a meal or offered a ride to a grocery store during the holiday breaks. Someone had to know that there were students staying in dorms over the holiday periods. Most were probably in town. I was lucky I had friends to go home with and professors’ children to babysit for in the 1970s . I graduated from a large state university.
7
That *is* shocking. When I was in college, even though the dining halls were closed, there were dinners and other meals for students who had to stay over the long breaks. Although I don't agree with many of the criticisms in the article, no student should have to go hungry.
1
Thank you for posting this. I was a first generation college student in the 90s. from a poor white background. I went to a small liberal arts college and didn't make it. I eventually transferred to a large state school. My tuition was fully covered, some of it by work study.
One of the biggest problems was the dorm, which we were required to live in, would actually *close* over holiday breaks. I didn't have any place to go, and certainly couldn't afford a ticket home. I remember my mom using food and utility money for gas to drive ten hours to bring me home.
I also remember hungry days. Our cafeteria had a meal plan included in our tuition but the cafeteria was only open several hours a day, which I would miss due to work or class . I would try to take food to hide in my room for these days.
I did try to ask for extra work study hours and remember being told I was "entitled" and told about other students who were truly in need (the librarian who was my boss looked at me and judged my appearance that I was not one of them).
I remember desperately trying to hide from my peers who just returned from a ski trip to Switzerland that I was poor. I dreaded the "what do your parents do question."
This isn't to complain and I know it certainly sounds like it. My point is that even with a full ride, attending this school proved impossible for me and we need to rethink policies so low income students have a fair shot at finishing college, once in.
25
As the single mom of a scholarship student, I really appreciated this insightful, well written opinion piece. My child was offered a tuition-free private high school which we turned down, due to the incredible social pressures they would have been subjected to. More offers came with college, but with amazing opportunities came the uncompensated 'costs' to survive. It was tough but the kid made it and is doing quite well today, thank you. Still, it was a lonely place, where well-meaning peers, friends and family mostly just congratulated my child and me about how lucky they were, getting a 'free' ride.
Another issue that needs attention is social inclusion (assuming impoverished students have any spare time between classes, jobs and homework). To never have the money, time or energy to participate in going out for coffee or to watch a football game not only deprives them of some of the fun experiences of college life, but more importantly, adds to their isolation which reduces their social networks and financial opportunities long after they graduate.
21
The University of Illinois-Springfield also has a (student-founded) food pantry for students in need. It's a much-needed resource that I hope more institutions will consider.
13
This essay describes well why even the educated "have-nots" have a tendency to have not, long after graduation. I grew up in poverty but have managed to eke my way through undergrad and grad school with a terminal degree from a good school but have consistently struggled with feelings of inadequacy and most of the time, as Jack mentions, with bills and food. During our last two years of grad school, my wife and I were on food stamps and we seriously couldn't have fed ourselves or our son without it. Now, we owe the government a great deal of money--more than we are likely to ever be able to pay--and that informs and conditions how we live now, including how we approach sending our own son to college. One generation removed from poverty, and we are still dealing with its effects every day. I hope with all my being that a lot of people read this and understand the disadvantages of poverty, even to those of us poor kids who do manage to find their ways into higher education. It is a constant battle for respect and for resources once you get there and usually after you get done, too. I'm happy to have gotten my degree, and very grateful for the education--I'd do it all again in a heartbeat, but it's also important to be honest about the radical imbalances that have attended it.
27
It's very interesting to hear this story, but I would like to know what happened to the father in his life. The father plays such an important role in the success and happiness for children regardless of race or income level, and knowing what happened there is an important element that goes unmentioned.
If a working father was present in this person's life, presumably the son would not be telephoned with requests for money. I hate to say this, but in stories like this, and I've read many over the years, the father is always absent.
10
Too many assumptions are made, probably based on the author's ethnicity.
I too grew up poor, was a first generation college student, and without a father for most of my childhood but because I am Asian-American, people always presumed I came from a 2-parent family.
Fathers are missing for more reasons than them voluntarily departing. In my case, my father died during the Vietnam war. In other cases, fathers are incarcerated and this is not always fair, if you knew anything about how the justice system works for poor or non-white people.
In the third case, fathers aren't missing but are unemployed or underemployed. My friend's father had cancer most of his years in college (eventually dying of it) and although the family did not depend on my friend for $$, he felt he should work extra hours to help them out. Numerous studies show that Black men are at a disadvantaged when trying to apply for jobs or getting promotions. The NY Times has had multiple articles on these issues.
It's easy to think that singular factors account for problems when if you explore the matter, it's much more complex.
13
So you don't think that even families with a father present can live in poverty?
8
Maybe his dad died. Why do you people constantly harp on this????
2
Many years ago in the early 60s, a brilliant young Polish kid from an inner city Catholic school in Detroit was sent off to Georgetown with the blessings of the nuns. He said most of his classmates were wealthy Irish kids and he did not fit in. At some point he went to pieces, ending up working at a tool and dye facility for Ford Motor Company.
7
100% on target. I was a poor white kid and the child of an alcoholic, who went through the same experiences as the first person in my family to ever attend a university. The three jobs, the lack of knowing 'what's up', the confusion, the lack of direction, inability to 'go home' since home was sometimes homelessness, the calls from parents asking for help with basic necessities. It was rough. If I can say, it was rougher still being a poor white in some ways; no scholarships, no special considerations, no private schooling -- being looked at as 'white trash.' I think the solution will be far greater than just having the schools do more. Our society needs to do more to give all of our young people a decent and equitable shot at success. Poverty has far deeper roots than a simple lack of cash flow; it's a whole way of life and understanding.
52
This is a good piece, but there is a bit I don't understand - most Freshman before they start college don't know what office hours are and how to go out to lunch with an instructor and who pays. That is not specific to being low income. Also, deciding who is disadvantaged by zones makes no sense in much of America so I'mglad they are not doing it that way for the sAT.
1
There are orientation meetings for first year students, usually resident advisers, sometimes faculty advisers. There are upper class people and student organizations. There are pamphlets. My college's student newspaper normally wrote a guide for incoming students each year that was sent to all freshmen. You do, however, need to be willing to take advantage of these resources.
2
It's hard to pity a person who has buy his PB&J pre-made, you could not buy the ingredients to save some money? First thing a broke person should teach himself is minimal cooking skills, like boiling water for pasta or rice. The idea that you eat at McDonalds and consider it inexpensive is crazy. Restaurant food is NEVER less expensive. Speaking of pasta I recall only have the money for a box of plain macaroni one day my Sophomore year, and then after I had boiled some up my buddy Rob blew my mind by throwing in a load of smashed acorns he had collected from the tree outside the apt building.
6
Convenience stores in those days may not have stocked bread, peanut butter or jelly. He would have had to go much further to reach a grocery store for those items.
Also, cooking/boiling water in his room would have required an electric hot plate. And such appliances might have been banned in dorms.
9
I went to college in the mid-70s. Everyone had a hot pot for boiling water for tea and ramen.
4
Riiiiiiiiiight, there were no grocery stores in Massachusetts, everything has been delivered by Amazon Prime for the past 15 years
2
Waaaaaaah :(
Quit your crying already.
I was raised by a single mother, my dad died when I was 13, and I dropped out of high school.
Then, I put on my big boy pants, joined the Army (where I served my entire enlistment honorably), worked my way through community college, got a bachelors degree, and then a law degree from the University of California.
Not one time during that process did I whine about *any* of it.
But yes, I am white.
Part of the privileged oppressor class...no?
29
Somehow, lots of Asian immigrants from poor families succeed without special help.
6
Speaking as a poor, Asian immigrant who "succeeded", I am grateful for every opportunity and assistance I was given. At the same time, I often wonder how much more I would have succeeded, how many opportunities I missed, and how much quicker I might have reached my goals if I had had a parent(s)/ people who had told me financial aid was available, what office hours were, how to talk to professors, why Amherst, Smith, Barnard, and Carleton were worth applying for (all recruited me as a teen: I had no idea who they were or their large financial endowments), what the Rhodes scholarship was, why I should join certain clubs on campus, how to speak up in class, etc.
BTW, I had no idea how what scientific research was nor what medical school entailed. Fortunately, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute had a program to recruit disadvantaged students and the mentors I met there helped me succeed. Before that, all types of public school programs were vital.
Also, not all Asians are alike. In particular, SE Asians for example have higher poverty rates but their issues are overshadowed by relatively educated and higher-earning Chinese-, Filipino-, and Indian Americans.
I hate it when people assume that just because some Asian Americans are successful, they did it all by "their bootstraps" without extra help, that they did not encounter discrimination, and that everyone is successful.
34
Your lack of empathy never disappoints, Mr. Katz. It's a consistent feature of your comments.
2
Mr, er Dr. Jack's story is poignant and, I'm sure, hits the nail on the head regarding what students from lower socio-economic status experience at the elite colleges. It is a nice piece of work. At the risk of being off topic, what about the bulk of talented lower socio-economic group students who never make it into elite institutions or higher education institutions in any shape or form? We as a society should be doing something to help them. After all, it was years ago, I think in the 1970's that the United Negro College Fund first reminded us that a "mind was a terrible thing to waste". We have so much work to do in our nation to take full advantage of the talents of our citizens - and it will only make our nation a better one.
3
I certainly agree that colleges do need to do more to support low-income and first gen students. My mother was a first gen (white, Italian American when woman and men of her class definitely did not go to college in the late 1940s ) college student and often spoke somewhat similar experiences (including her mother being fired from her factory job when he found out that she was using her pay to support her daughter going to college). But what this article lacks is a sense of the incredible fortune and privilege that comes with accessing an ths type of education. My mothers spoke about her challenges but also about her great fortunate. Only a tiny slice of America gets to experience this kind of education and reaps its rewards. And as others have said, there are many outranging public universities where one will find a far more diverse groups of students and administrations that are better prepared to support student needs.
12
Thank you so much for this very moving and personal story which has raised my awareness. Congratulations to you for achieving in spite of your hunger and loneliness, and the stress of taking care of your family. Well done, professor.
6
Thanks for this illuminating and personal article. I was not aware that so many college students live with food insecurity. I was struck by the similarities of your experience with that of immigrants, fielding calls and letters from home requesting financial help and sharing emotional burdens. My father was a poor immigrant on a scholarship to an Ivy League university. In addition to the financial constraints there was a tremendous cultural difference to navigate. He had very fond memories of that time however, and it was the opportunity of a lifetime.
6
I hope that many people reading this are brought back to, like I am right now, to the intensity of the struggle when you're at a selective college, and have made it in that sense, but you're having to navigate personal and familial financial situations that are very different from the majority of your peers while you're trying to build your own future. This piece hit home. Thanks for your courage in sharing your story, Professor Jack.
8
I appreciate the author sharing his difficult experience adjusting to the world of an elite, exclusive liberal arts college in New England after having grown up in Miami. I'm sure that was a difficult transition. I do wish, given that Mr Jack has risen to the level of Professor Jack, at Harvard no less, that he would have touched on the real reason these elite colleges have no diversity, which is they do not accept enough applicants, and most colleges need the tuition from wealthy students and favor them no matter what their admissions materials say. If a student wants to go to college in a truly diverse environment with people from every place, race, and income level, think about going to a large urban state university. That is your very best chance of going to school with a diverse student body. In my state, Arizona, we have three choices in the State University system and Arizona State University with over 100,000 students is a hugely diverse community. It is a top-notch research institution and their mission is to measure themselves not by who they exclude but by who they include and who they succeed. That seems to me to be a more honorable mission that topping the US News and World Report ranking for exclusivity.
11
I agree. I came from a different country at age 17. While I grew up well off, I came with a scholarship and $400 in my pocket and everything I made was made after being here. That was by my choice since I was determined to prove that I could do it by my own and not rely on my family's wealth/name back home. So I went through the ramen noodles, frozen burritos, learnt to cook, etc. until now I'm very comfortable financially. I graduated from elite universities, took up tenure track faculty position at one (turned down offers from the traditional Ivy League institutions) and over time "moved down" , ranking wise.
My philosophy has always been that if you are lucky enough to obtain an elite education, and you the continue to only perpetuate the elitism, then you've wasted that education in part. A lot of the people at Stanford and Harvard leave and go off into the world at a less elite environment and spread their knowledge and experience. This I admire. The people who choose to remain insular -- well, I can say that's not my personality. The people who leave such an environment have it a bit harder but it's not that a big deal and the reward is greater. I wish there was a lot more mixing.
One advantage I've had compared to others is that I was raised with love, and to believe in myself - every message around me growing up was that I could do whatever I wanted (which isn't the case for people growing up poor, like my wife).
4
I saw this struggle first-hand at UMass Amherst, graduate school. A smart Puerto-Rican kid from urban Boston struggled to fit in and eventually dropped out. At least in my small program, I was shocked and surprised at how even in graduate school, if you weren't in with the popular kids, drinking etc, life on campus was much more isolating. What a nightmare it was, for all the wrong reasons, I can't imagine having to worry about hunger or family finances.
12
Me too: smart kid, poor urban family, first generation college, no understanding of what 'going to college' was, but absolutely expected to go. I went to a fantastic community college, then transferred to a highly-regarded small private college in my city. I was one of only two transfer students accepted that year. All the students were from somewhere else and lived in the dorms. I had absolutely nothing in common with anyone at that school, which became even more apparent at Thanksgiving when everyone started discussing where their families were going for the holidays. I had no idea that entire families went on vacations involving plane travel for a whole week! I was going to my grandmother's house around the corner for dinner. I ended up leaving that college and going to a state university. Much better fit.
4
I'm sorry to hear about your experience. It's heart breaking when this happens (far too often). And you are not alone.
Graduate school was incredibly alienating - from my supposed peers, my supposed mentors, and from my family, which had no idea what I was doing going for more school ("I though you already did that..."). Despite having a nationally recognized fellowship, I ended up leaving my large public university program. It was clear that you needed a professor to really take you under their wing as your advocate in all things, which, if they saw something of themselves in you, seemed to happen more readily. Too bad if you aren't a rich, straight, white male who went to a private college (95% of the department, or rather, the field I was in). Just a few weeks ago I was talking with a former colleague, and we realized that everyone who graduated that program in the last 5 years had at least one parent who had a graduate degree of some sort.
Now I am doing a professional degree, online with a state university, and have already found a job in my newly chosen, high demand career while I finish up. Seems when everyone has the same access (literally, we all have the same advising, courses, etc.), it's a lot easier to get what you need, at least in this case.
Thanks for sharing your story!! As a child of foster care (or "the system"), I also couldn't afford to go anywhere/didn't have anywhere to go during winter/spring breaks and could barely afford to eat. I was very malnutritioned and thin (evident in a couple of photos from back then) and couldn't concentrate. I ended up having to go to the hospital a couple of times because of symptoms relating to this malnutrition (and dehydration, of all things). I wasn't a partier or drinker so there wasn't anything to blame but lack of money or help. I inevitably had to drop out to move to hopefully get a full-time job that made me enough money to live a normal life, because getting an education fell at the bottom of the totem poll (my mother continually calling me in a drug-induced emotionally-burdened frenzy never helped, either). Anyway, I have to say that I am happy people are finally starting to consider these things... that kids in America need help with these things, not just kids in other countries.
10
Thank you for sharing your story, Mr. Jack. Having been through a similar college experience, although I am a white woman, I can relate. I hope schools begin to understand how to better help students in these kinds of situations. Watching while other students spent their parents' money on material things didn't bother me because I couldn't do the same, it was their lack of respect for the education that someone was paying for that rubbed me the wrong way. I don't think anyone deserves spring break vacations, but I do believe every student should have the opportunity to access healthy nutritional choices no matter what time of year it is or if campus is essentially closed. This is about health and nobody can appropriately participate in college if they are malnourished or sick.
14
poor whites endure the same hardships. I paid my parents' bills, mortgages, same stuff, while also paying for college 100% myself. I similarly ran out of food over breaks when I could not afford to go home. But I never complained, and I did not blame anyone. The opportunity of a lifetime (H.Y.P. degree) does not always come cheap. it was worth every sacrifice, and I really strongly disagree that universities need to do more on these fronts. I was more than happy to work to make extra money so I could eat over break times, and yes, I never went on any of those glamorous trips, but it never bothered me. To this day, Spring Break means nothing to me; I work instead while my family vacations without me. Re food: Pizza was only a buck a slice then -- not that hard for an enterprising college kid to fund that burden for a week or two. I have never once thought that it was anyone's job but my own to figure these challenges out. Life's hard; no better place than college to become self sufficient. I agree with another reader that this article sounds pretty whiny. but then again, I am probably 20 years older than the writer and whiny is a lifestyle now.
76
This reads like the story of a child of negligent parents who has grown up and gone on to perceive those who speak out about systemic problems as "whiny," regards himself as the only example worth considering, and is now proud to neglect his own family by working while they are on vacation without him. How inspiring.
4
actually my father was an ivy grad and my mother went to one of the best all women's colleges, and they were very involved, hands on parents. I had an excellent upbringing that included anything a kid could want but money. so when it came to choosing between losing a family home because we were behind on the mortgage or going on spring break, I helped with the mortgage. I also served my country as a military officer to pay for college and served in the gulf war, not something most people would do just to get that elite degree.
My greater point was clearly lost on you, that opportunity is seldom served up on a silver tray. you have to make it happen. and often it's not easy. so be thankful for the opportunity. especially one that others would kill to have, and would work harder than you would to have it, too.
1
I see nothing in Dr. Jack's article to suggest he was not grateful for his opportunities. What kind of neighborhood did you grow up in? How prevalent was gun violence there? How would you rate your own likelihood to succeed had you grown up in a household without educated parents, lets say? And why would you wish such difficulties on anyone? Moreover, the fact that you had to go "serve our country" by helping some billionaires maintain control over the oil industry due to your own financial situation is a source of shame for our nation, as much as it is of pride to you. And, with all due respect to your parents, had they been taking care of business rather than having a child for whom they could not afford to provide the educational opportunities they themselves had enjoyed, you might have endured fewer hardships and gone on to contribute even more to society than participation in one of a now-very-long string of disgusting mass murders disguised as patriotic efforts, followed by time spent away from your own family in pursuit of material gain.
So, Mr. Jack worked hard and got rewarded, living free while he did so...that's the American dream.
No reason to feel sorry for this guy, or anyone else experiencing what he did.
BTW, when I graduated from HS in '75, my family was still using an outhouse and pitching hay to our cows by hand. with pitchforks. I graduated college, after having been in the navy, and paid back my student loans without help from the government.
30
You would think that given your own situation, you would have some empathy for others but no, nothing, just a snarky comment on no reason to feel sorry for the guy. Yes I do feel sorry for someone who has to hold 4 jobs in order to hold the fort back home and also feed himself while studying full-time and trying to get good grades, all the time competing with his privileged classmates who don't have to work and whose only "job" was to study.
21
This takes me back. I remember getting up on Saturday and discovering that the dorm dining hall was closed on weekends and the nearest restaurant a mile away. I had no car. I moved into an off campus apt which was much cheaper than the dorm and got a job. Still had no car for years.
I remember having a Thanksgiving of scrambled eggs, and many cans of tunafish, and not being able to buy clothes. My friends in similar predicaments and I laughed at all this, because we were young and sure to have our way. Those were the days, my friend.
21
For some reason, I can't seem to reply directly to other comments and this is gonna have turn into a two-comment reply. AR Clayboy from Scottsdale, Arizona, this is for you. Although you recognized some of your intersecting identities growing up, I do not think that you recognize the one that really stood out to me reading your review: your middle-class, probably upper-class, identity. Growing up as a "financial aid student in the early 1970s" has obviously dulled your perception and knowledge of what living in the lower-class may feel like and how it differs depending on the individual. You fail to acknowledge differences in economic background, mental health, and privilege (that doesn't solely have to do with being "handed the opportunity of a life time").
2
I don't know why you assume that about AR Clayboy. But I also agree with him, am Black, and my family was most definitely not middle class.
1
AR Clayboy from Scottsdale, Arizona, this is for you. Although a financial aid student, did you struggle through college working 20-hour weeks? Did you understand the fear of hunger? Of knowing your family was in possible danger? The mental toll described by Professor Jack that one question, "you busy?", can bring? The stress of having to be a pillar of support for your family? The helplessness that comes from knowing that you can't do anything more than what you're already doing? If you answered yes to any of these, you have some semblance of what Professor Jack went through. Do not forget that thirty-dollar SAT Prep books may seem cheap to you, but insurmountable to others. Do not forget that an entire SAT course from Princeton Review, "the price of less than 25 packs of cigarettes," is unreachable to a student who pays $75 for diabetes medicine for his family, who pays $100 to turn on the lights, who pays $675 for his family's mortgage 1000+ miles away. Do not forget your own struggle and the inequality that you have faced. Do not forget that you had some level of privilege even before going to college that others are not afforded—that others begin in places where it may be literally impossible for them to go to Wesleyan, no matter how hard they try. I really do wish I could say more about how egregiously wrong (Professor Jack did acknowledge the enormity of his opportunity to go to Amherst—read carefully please) and insensitive your comment is, but I have class.
49
Thank you Dr. Jack for an amazing look into what it really means to be a first-generation college student from a low-income community. As someone who went to an Ivy League and had a similar experience to yours, it's crucial that our community continues to shed light onto the need for colleges, both elite and non-elite, to provide emotional, mental, and physical resources to students with diverse backgrounds. I remember seeking out college provided mental health, and when I mentioned that I'd like to talk about my trauma in my childhood, including being houseless, the mental health provider responded - but how are classes going? Let's focus on that instead.
Schools have not been equipped to support students from backgrounds that are not the majority, middle-to-upper class. Providing financial aid that only covers tuition, boarding, and a few expenses is not enough - and I look forward to the continued public discourse on how and why this must change.
9
"Providing financial aid that only covers tuition, boarding, and a few expenses is not enough - and I look forward to the continued public discourse on how and why this must change."
You are unrealistic. A college is an educational institution, not a full-scale social services organization. The best schools offer counseling and other transitional programs but your expectations are not going to be met. Despite the grim tone of this article, many low-income or first generation college students do manage to have a worthwhile experience notwithstanding that they don't enjoy the privilege of their wealthiest classmates. And not all their white classmates are well-off. At my Ivy League college, a white kid in my dorm told me that his family had had to take out a mortgage on their house to pay for his tuition.
1
I am Black, attended Wesleyan University as a financial aid student in the early 1970s. Yes, in coming from Newark, NJ, life among kids from America's most prominent families took some adjustment. As did law school, practicing at an elite law firm and ultimately making it to the C-suite of a Fortune 10 company. But making that adjustment, after all, was the point of the entire enterprise.
Not once in that article does Mr. Jack acknowledge that he was handed the opportunity of a life time, that many young Black people would die to have. Instead he wallows over the indignity of having to work at the gym and the fact that his scholarship did not include airplane tickets home for the holidays. Even his whine over SAT prep rings hollow. He says he could not afford the book. I checked Amazon, and the typical book costs less than $30 and Princeton Review offers an entire course for $250 (the price of less than 25 packs of cigarettes).
I am at a loss to understand what Mr. Jack and others like him expect. Most successful people have come to understand that life is about preparing to capitalize on opportunities, and to expect to have to overcome some disadvantages along the way. Mr. Jack, however, wants to blame the world for its imperfections and to expect some tailor-made solution for every problem. I would say GROW UP, but that might be impossible, given how and where you make your living.
99
As a first-generation college student who came from a similarly humble background, I think the point of Mr. Jack's article is about making people more aware of the obstacles he faced so that the powers that be and interested people can try to help.
It's not about "blaming the world" but about looking at systemic rather than individual factors that make it hard for disadvantaged students to succeed. As a teenager, my PSAT scores were high enough to garner a stack of invitation from colleges to apply. However, one look at the tuition and I could not bring myself to apply. Little did I know that financial scholarships would have covered all or most of my tuition. I occasionally consult for these schools now (in medicine/ science): sometimes, I get asked why I didn't attend them. It wasn't because of lack of individual ability: it was lack of knowledge and also the college's way of promoting themselves. A few days ago, NY Times published an article about how -- just within the last few years -- selective colleges now send out flyers with clear messages to high achieving but poor students they should not worry about money. If no one had brought up the issue, it would never have been addressed.
When we address systemic factors, all of society benefits. Also the Internet and Amazon did not exist when I was in college.
14
But it seems like you did just fine anyway. The most elite schools are not always the best fit for everyone, even if they qualify academically. Many students who could get into them from all financial backgrounds choose not to apply or if accepted, choose not to attend.
I attended an Ivy for my grad degree. Educationally, the experience was far below what I received at a small LAC and a large state U. The only benefit was really the college name on my resume.
2
I congratulate you on your success. I too feel grateful at the opportunity provided, though I don't think that diminishes the hardship one feels while trying to make it through this journey. Not only financial, but social and educational gaps are real and can have an incredibly adverse effects on someone's life. As for the $250 Princeton Review book - that would have been unattainable for me until well-post graduate school - when there is not enough money for food, books don't make the cut normally. It doesn't mean that universities need to grant some tailor-made solutions to every problem, but when 40% of our students are suffering through this, we can do better.
2
I, too, was a low-income college student whose family was unable to provide any financial support toward my education.
- I was on full scholarship but had to work 20 hours per week during college and full-time during summers to provide funds for clothes, transportation, etc.
- After 2 years at a private college I transferred to a public college to cut costs and shared an apartment with 3 other guys to avoid high dorm fees. I ate TV dinners ($.19 to $.50 each) for 2 years.
- I bought an old car for $75 to get back and forth to campus and work; insurance cost more than the car and gas.
- I graduated college in 4 years, then spent 2 years as a Peace Corps teacher because I felt a responsibility to help those in less fortunate circumstances.
In college I knew many students from well-off families; and when I got my graduate degrees from Harvard (also on scholarships and working 20 hours/week) I knew students whose families were among the richest in the US.
I didn’t resent the rich students. I did not expect my scholarships to pay for all of my expenses, nor to meet my parents’ or siblings’ needs. I didn’t think twice about it—I did what I had to do to survive and get through college and graduate school.
While of course many minority college students carry extra burdens and have special needs, it is important to recognize that large numbers of white college students do, too, and therefore should be eligible for any benefits and services offered to college students of color.
54
Yeah, reading these comments, it seems the more common thread is the poverty-based background rather than race. I don't see Jack advocating for any changes based on race.
4
Amherst chose to admit (and financially support) you during the 4 years of your enrollment, but did not agree to step up and support your entire family for that time period. Recognizing the limits of their offer was your responsibility.
76
Amherst did not financially support the author--they covered his tuition and room, and food while class was in session. He was on his own when class was out of session. Reading the article reveals that the author was surprised by the bills he needed to pay for his family and he adjusted his circumstances by working so many jobs at a time that his counselor was giving him a hard time.
Please try to actually read the article before commenting. And also please try to be a nice person and understand another person's hardship.
4
I have noticed another difficulty faced by some of my students who are the first generation in college. Their families are not only unfamiliar with certain aspects of university culture but don't understand the demands on their children. Why did the writer's mother call him with bad news from the neighborhood? Unless it involved a friend, why burden him with this? And the expectation that he continue to support them when he could barely support himself is -- sorry -- just selfish. I got the feeling from some students that their parents had hidden ambivalences about their being in college: it was something the parents were told to want and encourage, but that they feared would separate them from their children. Ergo, the counterproductive demands. Amherst College didn't owe the writer's family anything. But perhaps more counseling of parents would help.
2
True, colleges are not obligated to support low income students' families. However they should recognize the fact that the students still bear this responsibility, and that it's a major stress factor affecting their academic lives. Some of these students probably have PTSD from all the trauma they continue to hear about from home. Offering extra work study hours, mentoring by older low-income students, guidance on finding higher-paying campus jobs are some of the ways the schools can continue to help.
2
This was very interesting to read, but I found one the article's central premises to be highly questionable. Mr. Jack seems obsessed with the idea of privilege and, as such, quickly dismisses disparities in SAT scores as a simple matter of test prep. And, from this premise, he argues that the "inflated" group (whites whose HS grades underperformed the SAT score) should be disfavored over a "deflated" group (blacks and hispanics with high grades and poor SAT scores).
I am Black an attended Wesleyan Universities in the early 70's when it was a pioneer in aggressive affirmative action (not diversity) and aid blind admissions. Most of my black and hispanic classmates were leading students at urban public and parochial high schools, but had achieved poor or middling scores on the SAT. In reality, their grades were inflated by a lack of quality academic rigor and competition in their high schools, such that even middling performers (white or black) from prominent public and private schools were, in fact, far more prepared the academic demands of college. Dismissing SAT scores as a mere matter of privilege is too simple a solution.
As we move away from traditional performance measures in college admissions, we are not only asking admissions officers to make highly subjective determinations of worthiness, but we are asking them to do so based upon stereotypical assumptions and a growing societal view that people who have achieved have done so unfairly. Good luck with that.
47
Yeah, but SAT/GRE is also useless in terms of predicting outcome which is kind of what it's supposed to be measuring. I've served on several undergraduate and graduate admissions/committees and we've been tracking what happens to the student based on their admission criteria (or award critera, since the undergrad committees I've been on are all award ones). The correlation with SAT/GRE scores alone just isn't there or if it is, it is very very weak.
1
This is important in other contexts. Just a few months again, the Mayor of New York City and the Department of Education's Chancellor wanted to change the admissions process for eight specialized high schools that are for the academically advanced. The means of admission is by a test, which has been validated and some form of examination has been used since the 1930s.
The Mayor, et al., wanted to drop the test because Black and Latinx are not doing well on it (this was not always the case in the past) and instead select the top 7% of students in middle schools by GPA. The schools in NYC are extremely uneven, to have selected students by this method would have been to change the character of the specialized high schools. In addition, Black and Latinx students have been scoring very poorly on less-demanding New York State math and language arts tests.
Standardized tests may not tell everything, but to suggest they are irrelevant is ridiculous. The only people who maintain that want to be in denial of how students are actually doing.
I am glad people are paying some attention to this. I was a low-income first-generation college student in the 70s, along with many others, and no one cared. I had no idea how to do anything. I didn't even know that when you asked a professor for a recommendation you also gave him a stamped self-addressed envelope. I didn't know what SSAS was.
14
I grew up in the rural Midwest and my parents did not attend college and neither did any of the parents of my high school classmates. Going to college I didn’t know anything about office hours, SSAS, going for coffee with professors or anything else. I had never heard of AP or IB classes. My small high school didn’t even have honors classes. But like everyone else, I eventually figured it out without any special guidance or programs. Out of a graduating class of 60 from my high school, over half earned college degrees and three of us went on to receive fully funded grad degrees from top 10 universities.
The type of poverty described in this article is extreme and the solution might be better found in the world of philanthropy. I was a "poor" student, but not in the heartbreaking way of Mr. Jack and his family. My struggles only made me stronger, wiser and powerful, and dealing with them on my own was complex but not insurmountable--more like a puzzle that needed solving. What Mr. Jack faced is overwhelming. He needed something like the Posse organization at his side. "The four-year Campus Program works to ensure the retention of Posse Scholars and to increase the impact of the program on campus. Posse staff visit each school four times annually for meetings with Scholars, campus liaisons and mentors. During a Posse’s first two years on campus, Scholars meet with their mentor weekly as a group and individually every two weeks." The Posse model is one such program and alumni could be helpful in starting something like this, forget the institution, they wouldn't have a clue.
18
I remember reading "Soap and Water" early in high school (http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/gilded/people/text6/yezierska.pdf). I'm not sure why anyone would expect things to have changed in the century since Ms. Yezierska wrote it.
3
Thank you so much for posting! I had never read Anzia Yezierska, and I am moved to tears.
I wish the people who commented on this article with such lack of empathy and understanding would read Yezierska also, and maybe, just maybe, have a tiny glimmer of understanding. I hope.
3
When I went to Yale, they took my Pell Grant towards tuition. I hope this still isn't going on--? Talk about blind.
6
This is what happened to my Pell Grant. I thought that was the way it works?
1
This article should be required reading for all who serve students on campus. A student's acceptance is just the starting point. Resources on campus, and an understanding of the diversity of the student body and what they might need, are so important if a student is to successfully navigate his or her 4 years (or more) on campus.
27
I was a student down the road at UMass Amherst in the late 90s. The PVTA (bus) was free for students and went from downtown Amherst to Hadley, where they absolutely had the $0.39 McDonald's cheeseburger.
58
Professor Jack, thank you for writing this. I was a low income student in a Northeast Liberal arts college. I too, was from a warm weather home which was out of reach for Thanksgiving break. And Spring Break trips to the Caribbean were about as accessible as the hand me down Mercedes station wagons that my classmates drove to work. I trudged through the snow to class each day, clocked in at my job after class, and ate ramen noodles over Thanksgiving, as there were no eateries or groceries within walking distance of campus. While my affluent white classmates spent 4 years in pursuit of "getting hammered and getting laid," I focused on multiple regression models (data science, in today's parlance). It paid off, through a Masters degree from Stanford, and multiple C level positions in public companies. Your story made me realize I was not alone, on that cold November night, heating up my ramen. Thank you.
73
Thank you sharing your experiences; as challenging as it can be to balance the aspect of "edutainment" that can result from 'pimping your trauma' as you aptly put it, these glimpses into your path shed helpful and instructional light that can/should be instructive to those who have the power and opportunity to make change. I agree that the College Board should be applauded for attempting to address the complex context of a student's circumstances; their attempt may not be perfect right now but I too applaud them for trying.
10