Poor students need help to graduate

“Who gets to graduate?”

This was the question posed on the cover of a recent New York Times Magazine. A research project performed at the University of Texas at Austin was described in the article.

I had taken the paper to my lake cabin to read over a long weekend. My son, Rich, came to the lake too. Rich and I are both University of Texas graduates. The truth we learned from the article was that rich students complete their degrees; poor and working-class students usually do not. The experiment at U.T. is trying to find out how we can change that.

The questions Vanessa Brewer, the girl highlighted in the article, asked herself were, “Am I supposed to be here? Am I good enough?” For as long as she could remember she had been determined to go to college. Her mother was bright and had badly wanted to go to college but her circumstances caused her to miss it.

Vanessa’s grades were good. There were plenty of small, decent colleges near her home, but Vanessa was determined to go to U.T. Austin, the “most outstanding public university in the state.” People warned her that it was very hard. She had her curriculum mapped out and began classes. Then, she failed her first test. She called her mother for comfort and reassurance but her mother sounded doubtful that she could succeed. Vanessa “died inside.” She didn’t want to leave, but “Am I good enough?”

There are thousands of smart kids like Vanessa at U.T., and millions around the country who desperately want to earn a four-year degree but who run into trouble and don’t know how to ask for help. So, they are back home demoralized and in debt.

That is the trend: Rich kids graduate and poor and working-class kids don’t.

Ability turns out to be a relatively minor factor in who drops out. The rich have a two-in-three chance of graduating but only one in six low-income students graduate. This year the university is addressing the problem for the first time.

The answer: You can’t deal with only academic and financial obstacles. You need to get into the students’ “doubts and misconceptions.” You need to get into their minds. —Grace M. Stuart, Kalispell