Higher education has become a requirement in today’s society, however the price of that education has only made it harder for middle class families to send their children to a university in the United States. While it is assumed that parents sending their children to college in the middle class are sending them to four-year public universities, those universities are not the elite universities in the United States, leaving the children of middle class families at a disadvantage, especially if there is more than one child in the family (Smeeding). While public universities do receive aid from the government, there is a general consensus that the government is still not doing enough to assure anyone who wants a college education is able to get one, leaving students from middle class families struggling to find enough aid to get themselves through college with minimum loans (Immerwahr). While there are options such as community college, which would allow families to pay significantly less for students, at least for the first two years, the schools themselves are not able to provide the same benefits as four-year colleges, which puts the students attending community colleges at a disadvantage from the beginning (Baum and Kurose). Where a college degree is there to aid mobility in social classes, there is not enough aid available to help families not a part of the working class, allowing that social class access to such mobility, but leaving the middle class to find aid on their own or risk finding themselves falling in social class ranks (Weir). While it is believed that the middle class is the most effected by the rising price of college, no one considers it a major problem because they are not the class that is truly struggling, leaving them on their own to make up for the cost of college while the working class does not feel an effect because of aid accessible to them and the upper class are able to pay the tuition regardless (Immerwahr and Johnson).
Currently, there is an understanding across the United States that families classified as middle class are not receiving adequate aid in order to be able to afford the higher education needed in this country to just stay afloat. However, this is not a top priority among financial aid offices because those considered middle class are not as unable to pay for the rising cost of college as those that are part of the working class, putting pressure on the families of middle class students to pay for their tuition so that they will be able to at least maintain their middle class standing.
For this research, I’m going to gather information on just how middle class families are able to afford to send their children to the most elite universities in the country, even though they receive very little aid to do so. By doing this, I’ll clarify the need for more financial aid measures to be put in place for middle class families in order for their students to attend elite universities, without the fear of going bankrupt over it, thus allowing their children to continue to rise in the social classes.
Currently, there is an understanding across the United States that families classified as middle class are not receiving adequate aid in order to be able to afford the higher education needed in this country to just stay afloat. However, this is not a top priority among financial aid offices because those considered middle class are not as unable to pay for the rising cost of college as those that are part of the working class, putting pressure on the families of middle class students to pay for their tuition so that they will be able to at least maintain their middle class standing.
For this research, I’m going to gather information on just how middle class families are able to afford to send their children to the most elite universities in the country, even though they receive very little aid to do so. By doing this, I’ll clarify the need for more financial aid measures to be put in place for middle class families in order for their students to attend elite universities, without the fear of going bankrupt over it, thus allowing their children to continue to rise in the social classes.