A Solution

Who applies for college?

Well for starters, those who can afford it.

Financial standings is a strong factor in determining if a student will enroll in college. According to a report by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), only 50 % of those from a low income family enrolled in college compared to 80% of those from high income families.

And this makes sense. Poor families often live in neighborhoods with substandard education systems. The lack in funding for these schools often result in the education provided failing to prepare students for employment, much less college.

According to an article by the NCES, children living in poverty have in general lower academic performance and increased rates of drop outs. A graph shown in the article displays that out of all ethnic groups, those from a black background are more likely to be impoverished.

Graph from the NCES (link above)

There is no doubt that background has a strong influence on who applies and attends college. Affirmative action takes into consideration some of these aspects but it is by no means a perfect system. The National Conference of State Legislatures looks at some these pros and cons in their article on affirmative action.

  

When it comes to proposing a potential solution to the issue, the true root of the problem must be found. Only then can the problem truly be handled and fully resolved.

Affirmative action looks to create equal opportunities for those of minority to excel in the education system. As a result of the current affirmative action policies, people of ethnic minorities and women have benefited.

While college admission offices reportedly contain biases which help determine those admitted, perhaps there exists a deeper reason to the existing demographics of higher education.

High school is an important part of the education system where students finish their basic education and look towards the future. From there, many will go straight to the workforce while some may continue to higher education.

The problem with using current demographics of higher education to determine the fairness of the admission process is that it often does not show the applicant pool. In reality, certain schools are predominately white because majority of the applicants are white. Say a school accepts 100 students a year. If 300 white students and 100 students from minority backgrounds apply and equal amounts of each are accepted, the school will have admitted 75 white students and 25 of minority background. While the number of accepted minority students is lower than accepted white students, the admissions process were completely fair; the applicant pool is what created the outcome. A good example of this would be in the Asian American community. As a part of that culture, education is highly stressed resulting in extremely high application rates and enrollment.

The ultimate goal that should be pursued in order to level the playing field is to increase the readiness of students going into college. Focus needs to be placed on those most at a disadvantage, which in this case is those struggling financially.

Naturally, the change can not be made dramatically. There is an undeniable history of discrimination against those of minority. But as society progresses, we are (hopefully) moving away from the unfair practices and treatments of the past. Once we have built ourselves out of the abyss of discrimination, the practice will not fully level the playing field. US News looks at using poverty preference to balance the demographics of admissions. While this tackles the problem from a different angle, it provides different results. In California schools that banned affirmative action, such policies helped increase the minority enrollment rate.

But in the end, we should be striving for a world where preference does not need to be given to anyone.