According to U.S. News and World Report, hundreds of colleges across the country will be favoring admission of high-income students who do not require financial aid as they work towards closing their budget gaps.
Cash-strapped schools have cut the number of classroom seats and reduced freshman enrollment. Favoring high-income students will leave poorer students scrambling for admission.
Many students already have limited options due to economic hardship. More and more, low-income students are applying only to schools within commuting distance of their parents’ homes in order to save money on housing. Sue Bigg, a counselor in Chicago, told U.S. News and World Report that many of her clients are “limiting their choices to commuting possibilities only.”
Free, quality education is a right that everyone deserves, yet budget cuts are making education less and less accessible to working-class people. No person in the richest country in the world should be denied that access.
