The New Affirmative Action Plan

Because of my recent discovery that I lack of knowledge of anything that doesn’t involve Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan, I decided to take a little time to read the New York Times today. Not only did I learn about Barack Obama’s plan for universal health care in the United States, but I also came across an extremely interesting article about college admissions.

By Lauren

According to the article a few universities across the country have begun to change their admittance policies and consider socio-economic status when accepting applicants. Sort of like Affirmative Action but with yearly income instead of racial heritage.

The article tells a story about one student who was given the opportunity to attend a college that he never could have afforded on his own. In addition to covering his tuition (which, by the way, he did work for through a work study program), the university also included money for other items and activities that would allow him to “fit in” with the rest of the student population.

He went on to be one of the top students in his class and has even stuck around post graduation to mentor other students.

It seems almost impossible to find fault with programs like this one. I may get a lot of hate mail for saying this, but I always thought that Affirmative Action should have been based on socio economic status instead of race. Personally, I think that students coming from poor neighborhoods or inner city schools deserve it more than minority students in the upper middle class of society.

We may not notice it, but a college education is completely awarded to the more fortunate people in our society. We have more money to join clubs, take unpaid internships and get private tutors for the SATs. We have better facilities, books and class variety. No matter what color our skin is, college is in close reach.

And because of all that, we have an easier time getting into/paying for/succeeding in college. Why should we get an edge over other equally deserving students? America needs all the brain power it can get, so doesn’t it make sense to make college accessible to as many bright students as possible? Money should never be an issue.

More schools around this country should follow the lead set by Amherst, Harvard, Stanford and Princeton. Every student in this country deserves a chance to succeed and do great things; it is the duty of our universities and educators to keep a little thing like money from getting in the way.