The Privilege of Financial Aid: An Exploration of Barriers to Higher Education Access for Low-Income and African American Students
By: Amber Johnson and Susan V. Iverson
In the five decades since the Brown v. Board of Education Topeka, Kansas Court decision that de-segregated the school systems, we have seen re-segregation of U.S. schools that - as Kozol (1991; also 2005) observes - yield ‘savage inequalities’ in educational outcomes. Existing practices contribute to the maintenance of these ‘savage inequalities’ in access to and persistence in college.
Privilege, according to McIntosh, “exists when one group has something of value that is denied to others simply because of the groups [social identity categories] they belong to, rather than because of anything they’ve done or failed to do” (Johnson, 2001, p. 23). The socially constructed system of privilege, i.e. white privilege, thus sets forth normative assumptions about what is quality or excellence that have implications for individuals’ participation in particular arenas. Consider, for instance, procedures for admission that frequently use SAT scores as criteria to determine whether one is eligible for membership in a given college community, even in light of debate (and evidence) of racial-bias in SAT testing (Young, 2003). Johnson is quick to add, however, an important clarification: individuals (and consequently organizational practice) are not typically engaged in intentional exclusion or discrimination; rather, the insidiousness of privilege is that one benefits without doing anything. Higher education is promoted as attainable to everyone; however, Fitzgerald (2003) observes that there are two conditions necessary in order for a student to attend college: “a student must be qualified to attend the institution to which she or he aspires and she or he must be able to afford to enroll” (p. 4). To realize this latter condition, students apply for financial aid. While all students may apply, the need for financial aid is especially great for low-income students, who are also often racial minorities. Freeman (1997), in her conversations with African American high-school students concerning access to higher education, found it was a mix of both economic and psychological concerns that served as barriers for African American high-school students in attending college, and most notably, the biggest barrier students perceived was their ability to be able to pay the short-term cost of attendance. In addition, students were concerned that the long term economic benefits of receiving a college degree would not outweigh the short-term cost of attendance (Freeman, 1997).
St. John, Paulsen, and Carter (2005), in their study of the role of the cost of college and availability of financial aid in promoting post secondary opportunities for diverse groups, found “African Americans were highly sensitive to finances in their college choices and in their persistence decisions” (p. 564). St. John et al. (2005) observe, even in light of African Americans’ greater financial need and eligibility for more aid, they were still only able to afford to attend less expensive colleges (also Perna, 2007). Long and Riley (2007) echo this point, adding that the replacement of need-based aid with merit-based aid, loans, and educational tax breaks are leaving low-income students and racial minorities with a greater likelihood to still have financial “need” even after being given all available aid. Further, Hauptman (2005) observes that high income families are qualifying for need-based aid when they attend a higher cost institution: “federal, state, and institutional need-based aid is going to students up the income ladder as persistent political pressures have pushed benefits to the middle class” (p. 1).
This seeming mismatch between institutional goals to recruit and retain a diverse student body and financial aid award practices that appear to fail low-income students and racial minorities begs the question: what happened to all of the money that was once available to bridge the gap between a student’s “need” and the cost of attending a college or university? Kramer (1991) responds with a critique of the “colorblind” system that has now emerged noting it may not necessarily help those who are in the most need. Gerald and Haycock (2006), in their report Engines of Inequality: Diminishing Equity in the Nation’s Premier Public Universities, illuminate how many of the U.S. flagship institutions appear to be enacting skewed priorities: “More and more they aren’t spending money on the low-income students for whom such aid is absolutely essential if they are to attend college, but on the high-income students who will help increase their rankings in college guides” (p. 4). Academically successful, high achieving, low-income students ironically have the hardest time gaining access to higher education. Gerald and Haycock (2006) note that while flagship universities have increased grant funding to low income students by 29 percent, these universities increased their funding to some of their wealthiest students by 186 percent. Family contributions for students who come from the lowest income brackets are estimated at 80 percent of their families’ annual income (Gerald & Haycock, 2006, p. 18). Something is not right when “the neediest of students are forced to work an excessive number of hours and to assume thousands of dollars in loans, just to ensure that they can stay enrolled from one semester to the next” (Gerald & Haycock, 2006, p. 18).
A personal interview with one financial aid officer expounded on the challenges described in the literature above. Jefferson, an assistant director of financial aid at a four-year public university, noted that many low-income students and racial minorities are also first-generation college students. The FAFSA form, which must be filed by March 1st in order to qualify for aid, is a dense process, with “tricky” terminology (personal communication with Johnson, November 8, 2007). Further, she adds, the earlier that one files the FAFSA, the more money one can qualify for. For first-generation, low-income students they are less likely to have mentoring to help them prepare and know what other options exist if their award package is low (i.e. investigate other funding sources such as scholarships). An additional barrier that Jefferson observed is the “digital divide” (personal communication, November 8, 2007). Even in today’s technological age, not everyone has access to a computer; yet, effective in the 2008-2009 academic year, no more paper FAFSA forms will be issued to financial aid offices. Students without access to a computer must call to request a paper copy.
In light of these barriers and disparities in financial aid practice, higher education administrators need to re-evaluate their approach to narrowing the gap between racial minorities and low-income students and their wealthy white peers. Gerald and Haycock (2006) offer several recommendations to administrators to create a (more) level playing field for racial minorities and low-income students. Some of the recommendations include being more aware of the pertinent statistics such as, how well the institution serves the breadth of its state residents, the graduation rate of entering freshman, gaps in graduation rates, and the amount of grants awarded to students with high financial need proportional to the rest of the student body. Others include, focusing on increasing the success of students already admitted, aggressively recruiting more talented low-income students and students of color, reallocating institutional aid dollars, reaching out and reclaiming students who left in good standing, but without a degree, and committing to preparing more high-quality teachers for high-poverty and high-minority schools (Gerald & Haycock, 2006).
Evidence suggests that recent financial aid initiatives have widened the gap in college attendance between blacks and whites and between those from low- and high-income families. For instance, in her study of the Hope Scholarship, Dynarski (2000) notes that should it have its intended effect on middle- and upper-income attendance it will also widen already large racial and income gaps in college attendance in the US. Low income students and racial minorities attend community colleges in disproportionate numbers to their wealthy, white peers, and correspondingly white students from high-income brackets are far more likely to attend ivy league universities (Goldrick-Rab, 2006). A failure to systematically address these disparities risks reproducing barriers to higher education access for low income and African Americans students and an academic classism in higher education.
Dynarski, S.M. (2000). Hope for whom? Financial aid for the middle class and its impact on college attendance. University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper, No. W7756. Available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/
Fitzgerald, B. K. (2003). Real promise or hollow rhetoric? About Campus, 8, 3-10. Retrieved November 20, 2007, from Education Research Complete database.
Freeman, K. (1997). Increasing African Americans' participation in higher education. Journal of Higher Education, 68, 523-550. Retrieved November 20, 2007, from Education Research Complete database.
Gerald, D. & Haycock, K. (2006). Engines of inequality: Diminishing equity in the nation’s premier public universities. The Education Trust, 1-25.
Goldrick-Rab, S. (2006, January). Following their every move: An
investigation of social-class differences in college
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Hauptman, A. M. (2005). College: Still not for the needy? The
Chronicle of Higher Education, 1. Retrieved November
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Johnson, A.G. (2006). Privilege, power, and difference. New York:
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Long, B. T., & Riley, E. (2007). Financial aid: A broken bridge to
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Perna, L. W. (2000). Differences in the decision to attend college
among African Americans, Hispanics, and Whites. Journal
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20, 2007, from Education Research Complete database.
St. John, E. P., Paulsen, M. B., & Carter, D. F. (2005). Diversity,
college costs, and postsecondary opportunity: An
examination of the financial nexus between college choice
and persistence for African Americans and Whites. Journal
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Young, J.R. (2003). Researchers charge racial bias on the SAT.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 50(7), pp. A34-5.
Amber Johnson is a graduate student in the Higher Education Administration & Student Personnel at Kent State University. Dr. Susan V. Iverson is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education Administration & Student Personnel at Kent State University.
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