You have the option to pay for various aspects of college admissions, such as SAT prep, essay writing services, and private schools that offer advanced placement (AP) courses. However, a recent Supreme Court decision against Harvard University has deemed race-conscious admission practices unconstitutional. This has led universities like Harvard to seek alternative ways to foster diversity on campus. One such alternative, which is often overlooked, is wealth-based affirmative action.
Implementing wealth-based affirmative action can result in socioeconomic diversity on college campuses, which in turn will have a positive impact on racial diversity due to the vast racial wealth disparities in America. According to Professor Evan Mandery’s book “Poison Ivy: How Elite Colleges Divide Us,” the average family income of Harvard students is $505,000. A large percentage of Harvard students come from the top 1% of family income, while very few come from the bottom 50%. Analysis by economists Raj Chetty and John N. Friedman based on data from the Harvard Crimson’s survey of the class of 2017 reveals that as many students come from the top one-tenth of 1% as from the bottom 20%. These statistics clearly show that Harvard’s student body does not reflect the diversity of the country.
Considering that Harvard’s acceptance rate is only 3.4% and they have more than enough applicants who are high school valedictorians, admissions officers have the power to use wealth-based affirmative action to balance the scales. This system has proven to be successful for students of all backgrounds. After race-based affirmative action was banned in California in 1996, UCLA Law School started implementing a wealth-conscious admissions process. Analysis of their admissions data revealed that Hispanic students were twice as likely to be accepted and black students eleven times as likely compared to the previous system.
The reluctance of colleges to adopt wealth-based affirmative action is largely due to monetary factors. It is well known that families of wealthy students are more likely to make substantial donations to schools. The influence of money in the admissions process can be seen in the fact that children of donors to Harvard University are seven times more likely to be accepted than typical applicants. This essentially becomes affirmative action for wealthy students, taking spots away from deserving applicants who have overcome obstacles to succeed.
Colleges should prioritize diversity in all forms, including socioeconomic diversity, in order to create a student body that accurately represents the country’s population. A college degree has always been seen as a pathway to upward social mobility, but elite colleges are betraying that ideal by consistently admitting students from privileged backgrounds. This recent Supreme Court decision provides an opportunity for schools to reevaluate their admissions processes and determine what is truly important: financial resources or a diverse and inclusive student body.
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