Article Critique: For Poor, Leap to College Often Ends in Hard Fall

Being accepted into a college is tough as it is but completing it’s becoming much difficult for students, especially those coming from low income families. The New York Times article “For poor, leap to college often ends in hard fall” describes how lower income students struggle with various obstacles or “built in headwinds” throughout college. The “built in headwinds” these poor students encounter make it difficult to complete college compared to upper income students.
Education is supposed to be the economic equalizer for people of any economic background to obtain upward mobility. But as The New York Times article describes, the economic gap is dramatically increasing between upper income students and lower income students. It explains several factors why so. The article follows the lives of three young high school intellectual girls from Galveston, Texas: Bianca Gonzalez, Melissa O’Neal, and Angelica Gonzales. All of these girls are academically intelligent but as it turns out all of them fail to complete a four year degree. Mainly due to the “built in head winds” they suffer that make it difficult to complete college.
One of the “built in headwinds” these girls face is hardships at home. I believe like in any household when a student is facing family problems at home it makes it much more difficult to concentrate on school work. For example, one of the girls Melissa had to deal with mother’s drug addiction and alcoholic boyfriends. A household like such is no place in which a young student is capable of focusing on school work. As a result Melissa saw education as her only escape and refuge.
Lower income families tend to have broken households with the father figure missing in the picture. As seen in the article, this scenario has detrimental results for these girls in finishing school. All of these young girls rely heavily on their deadbeat boyfriends because “their fathers weren’t there” according Miss G. (school counselor). Take for example the case of Angelica and her boyfriend Fred. Instead of helping her out, he brings about substantial increases in debt and other issues to Angelica causing her to get bad grades in college.
As seen before, single parent homes suffer several disadvantages both financial and emotionally as compared to two parent homes. One of the most significant factors, upper income students enjoy is emotional support from their parents. In upper income households, parents have increased their child¬rearing time. As any psychologist would agree, having someone to care for you and guide throughout life is very beneficial. This “built in headwind” in some way leads to a chain of events which make it much difficult for students like Angelica, Melissa and Bianca to obtain the education they need. Upper income parents are quick to intervene when their children need help, while in low-income families parents are often not involved in their child’s education. Also these upper-income students feel their schools respond to them while poor students do not experience the same. Leaving these students to make the right decisions and choosing the best schools. Meanwhile, with little guidance from family and school officials, poor students are left to make significant decisions on their own. As seen in the lives of these young girls it’s definitely not the right choice.
One of the most obvious “built in headwind” low income student face is monetary issues. Financial stability plays a significant role in obtaining and completing a good education. Upper income students get to enjoy several privileges that poor students cannot because parents invest in their education. For example, there are several college preparation courses (like SAT preps) that upper income families can afford which can lead to better grades which means acceptance better colleges. In general, upper income students to get enjoy private high schools and tuition paid by their parents. While poor students are left to study at low-achieving neighborhood high schools where quality of education is not so great. Also they worry about significant tuition debt.
Monetary shortages arises another significant issue, the need to work. Almost all college students from low income families tend to work, either a full time or part time job. They feel they need to help out at home. They also feel the need to have some money in their pocket to cover some basic necessity expenses (in which their parents are not able to provide them). In addition, extra income helps cover debt from tuition expenses while attending college. Speaking from personal experience working while going to school is much difficult. Like in Angelica’s situation, working students don’t have much time to study creating stress and decline in school work.
Another “built in headwind” that lower -income students encounter is family ties and sense of alienation when attending college. As seen in the case of Melissa, she was smart enough to get accepted into Texas State but yet felt she did not belong with the other students. And in the case of Bianca she did not want to attend higher quality school because she did want to leave her dying grandpa.
Lower income students struggle with several “built in headwinds” throughout their college career. These headwinds such as hardships at home and lack of financial and emotional support make it much difficult for these students to complete school. Colleges nowadays, do their best in providing equal opportunity for all their students. They provide extensive financial aid to those in need and have special programs catering to low income students. Therefore, all students have the sufficient resources to obtain a good education. In opinion, in order for a student achieve success it all depends on their parents (whether be financial or emotional support) and that is something colleges have no involvement in.