As the cost of university education has spiraled in recent years, there has been understandable concern about poorer sections of society being priced out of an education that can transform their lives.  New research from Brown University highlights how it’s not just the poorest who run that risk.

The paper builds upon a 2017 report that highlighted how many colleges are attempting to level the playing field for students from different economic backgrounds.  After analyzing standardized test scores alongside family income to assess the admissions at Ivy League Universities however, they found that not only were high-income students significantly more likely to attend such elite institutions, but lower income students were more likely than their middle income peers.

“Middle-income students could be underrepresented because they apply at lower rates, because they are admitted at lower rates, or because they matriculate at lower rates,” the researchers say. “Each of these forces may be present, and the relative strength of these forces may vary from college to college.”

Under-represented

The data suggests that students from families in the bottom 20% of earners are under-represented at elite schools, but they are less so than their peers from middle-income families.  The researchers believe this is largely because there are fewer of them scoring the requisite grades than among middle-income students.

The researchers utilized test score data to try and gauge just how big an application and attendance boost students from low and middle incomes would need to achieve equal representation at elite universities.  For students in the poorest households, they would require a SAT boost of 160 points, whereas for those in the middle 20% of earners, a 96 point boost would be required.

“In terms of economic outcome for students who attend highly selective colleges, there’s almost no gap between students from high-income backgrounds and students from low-income backgrounds,” the researchers conclude. “If these student bodies included more students from diverse economic backgrounds, we could substantially increase intergenerational mobility for college students in the US.”