The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges are Failing Disadvantaged Students

At the beginning of spring, Jack gets into an elevator at a Renowned dorm with four young white women all wearing what he calls the Renowned uniform: Lululemon yoga pants, Hunter boots, and a North Face jacket. One of them, Rebecca, says she’s never tried an espresso, and the other responds by inviting her to go to Italy with her.

This conversation is commonplace on campus. During the time Jack spent at Renowned, about one third of all undergraduate students came from families making more than $250,000 per year. Daily life at Renowned is thus shaped by student wealth. But being enrolled at Renowned is not the same as belonging at Renowned; students from wealthy backgrounds feel an ownership over the school’s common spaces and don’t feel put off by their peers’ wealth. But for a smaller (although growing) group of students, these social undercurrents can be shocking, maddening, and hurtful. As a result, many lower income students simply withdraw from campus life. This pulling back is more common for Doubly Disadvantaged students who, unlike the Privileged Poor, have not had a four-year preview of college life. The latter are more at ease at Renowned regardless of their own families’ income levels.