I am not a first generation college student. My parents both went to college in Pennsylvania before moving down here to start a life in warmer weather, eventually having two kids who would end up being pretty good at school. At the moment, I’m in the throes of the college application process, and if we’re being honest, it’s hard. Like, “Am I sure that I don’t want to just abandon the whole idea and save money to travel the world instead?” hard.
But I know that I’ll make it there. I know that I’ll probably attend graduate school, and in the grand scheme of things, “success” in the traditional sense of the word seems reasonably attainable. I’ve never had to question it. As someone born into a middle-class family full of educated people, my future was set for me before I could even write my name. My parents would make sure I went to college, because they had the privilege to do so.
For almost the entirety of my academic career, I’ve been blind to this privilege. I figured that I’d be going to college because I worked for it, because I was driven and because I had a knack for the type of learning that public school enforced. While this is true, I have to acknowledge the fact that I’ve made it this far because of the people I was born to. I have the money and time to complete my applications. I’ve had an army of support since my earliest days.
But kids with the same potential as me won’t make it as far. Kids with the same brains won’t have the same opportunities, because they have to spend time supporting their families instead of working on applications. Or because they don’t have internet at home. Or because their parents don’t know how to complete the FAFSA. So many aspects of the college application process are inaccessible to first-generation, low-income and minority students.
The cost of college applications must be eliminated, and the cost of tuition must be greatly reduced. Schools should allow more access to college visits and provide as much support as possible throughout the application process. Plus One and lunch periods should be devoted to helping kids who don’t have the time or resources to apply outside of school. But even with these changes, there are larger systematic issues that have to be addressed. From our earliest days in school, we assess kids’ potential and divide them into gifted and non-gifted tracks, and these systems, while not malicious, so often divide kids based on privilege or based on the support they receive at home. As early as elementary school, we’re condemning groups of students to a future of little support, and ultimately, little success.
And despite this, there’s still such a stigma around choosing to attend community college or no college at all. There is a level of elitism ingrained in the American education system, and this elitism follows us from kindergarten to graduation. If you don’t go to college, unless you’re starting a soon-to-be multi-million-dollar business, you are told that true success is unattainable. But how soon do we acknowledge that this success is based so heavily on something out of the hands of the kids applying? How soon do we examine the flaws of the system, rethink its focus on privilege and provide a more accessible approach to higher education? Without accessibility, we are doing nothing but killing inclusivity and stunting the growth of the future.
– By Sara Heilman
