The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges are Failing Disadvantaged Students

Culture shock or lack thereof often derives from a student’s sense of belonging. While all students face challenges in college, students from upper income families do not face this specific issue. When upper income students are confronted with something new, they see it as enhancing their college experience—the new is not scary but rather, an advantage.

Black students from upper income backgrounds that Jack interviewed reported either no culture shock or a good type of culture shock. Antoinette described her transition to Renowned as “seamless” (32): her high school sent roughly a dozen students to Renowned each year, and since she had gone to boarding school, even being away from home was old hat for her. Carol’s only potential culture shock was meeting new people from different racial and geographic areas and speaking multiple languages, but her dorm-mates felt familiar because all had come from similarly affluent backgrounds. Kramer was equally impressed by the outlier students: those who had won national science competitions or whose parents owned sports teams. Beyoncé was used being around so many white people since her high school was the same. Instead, what was new for her was the diverse Black community: She went out of her way to befriend different African women. Some upper income Black students noted differences of geography. Brittany, a Texan with Caribbean ancestry, was more shocked by life in the Northeastern US than life at Renowned, noting that the weather was bad and people less friendly. Joe too felt differences in manners and etiquette from the life he knew in the South. The students generally did not bring up their racial backgrounds or those of their peers as concerns, perhaps because more than three-quarters of upper-income Black students came from affluent majority-white communities. They also overwhelmingly described Renowned as being what they expected an elite academic institution to be like and saw themselves as people who had the right temperament for the school.

The Doubly Disadvantaged students Jack interviewed tended to report very different experiences, often crying as they described the shock. Joshua, a Black student, recalled a welcome reception for Renowned students in the nice part of his hometown. As he walked into the reception, he took the backwards cap off his head and saw only people who’d gone to better schools than his own, students who expressed surprise that he “spoke so well” and didn’t use “lazy English” (40). Joshua was reminded not just of his new peers’ wealth, but also of his own disadvantages. Manuel, a Latino student, remembered the gated community he had to visit for his interview, the kind of place that he had only seen on TV. Other students recalled feeling weird about being served by others at such visits or their parents feeling unable to leave the car when they saw where their children were entering. This feeling of difference can stay with students for a long time.

On campus, Doubly Disadvantaged students still felt out of place. Jose, a Latino student from a poor part of Los Angeles riddled with gang violence and poverty, recalled the shock at not finding anyone like himself on campus. He was excited that another Mexican was on his floor, but then he found out the student was from a wealthy family in Mexico City, whose father regularly flew him to Dallas to attend Cowboys home games. Jose learned that even other Latinos were not like him and that he needed to develop a “thick skin for microaggressions” (42). Jose picked up the term in college and used it to refer to incidents like other students complained about scholarships being given to supposedly less-deserving students or his peers assuming he could afford a meal out.

Doubly Disadvantaged students learn new constraints in college. Elise, a white student who grew up in various poor communities in Kentucky and Virginia, noted that she felt like everything about Renowned was at someone else’s mercy for students like her, while her classmates did not have any limits. More than once, Elise’s freshman year roommate got so drunk she had to be removed from campus by ambulance—the young woman didn’t care, because for her, ambulances were so cheap. Elise was frustrated that her peers failed to realize that $20 could be a lot to her because it was small change to them. William, another poor white student, similarly complained about his classmates’ consumption habits, noting that many of them would go out for lobster because they felt it was so cheap near Renowned’s campus. For William, the idea of not eating on campus, where the food was basically free, was insane. He also complained about pressure to join the ranks of consultants after college like his peers, despite the fact that no one enters college looking to consult. About a third of all students from elite colleges like Renowned enter the financial sector or management consultancies after graduation. Valeria, a Latina student, loved the academic challenges of Renowned, but found the lack of diversity on campus a strain. In high school, her teachers did not challenge her, but her peers understood her; at Renowned, the opposite was true.

While one could argue that exposure to different people and ways of life is important for college students, too often the burden is on the Doubly Disadvantaged to justify their own activities and financial decisions, rather than on their wealthy peers to justify their own. That is, William and Elise had to explain why they couldn’t go out to eat, while no one questioned students who went out for “affordable” lobster. That said, some Doubly Disadvantaged students do integrate into their new environments. When Ryan, a white student from rural Appalachia, pledged a fraternity, he suffered embarrassment when eating at an expensive eating club (which he had not even known existed) when he almost drank from a finger bowl (a small bowl of scented water for guests to cleanse their hands). Ryan could laugh about it later, but also admitted to there being no similarity between his hometown, where people died of black lung or opioid overdoses, and Renowned. Ryan never went back to the eating club, as it was too expensive anyway. Even students who cracked the code of the new culture often didn’t fit in simply because they couldn’t afford to.

For the Privileged Poor, though, as the subheading of the next section makes clear, the transition to Renown is “just like high school.” Because they have spent years socializing with wealthier students, Privileged Poor students come to school much better prepared for Renowned than their Doubly Disadvantaged peers. That’s not to say their college experience is easy, as troubles from home often keep them on edge.

For the Privileged Poor, culture shock is a matter of when, not if. Usually, they experience it when they enter private high school. Michelle, a Latina Prep for Prep alum from New York, entered an all-girls private school in eighth grade. At first, she blocked anyone from getting close to her, not used to having to be composed at all times and having to interact only with girls, especially wealthy ones. By the end of high school, though, she was fully used to the experience and had made several friends on her various sports teams. Thus, when she entered Renowned, the only new experience was the inclusion of boys. Similarly, Piper, the daughter of Asian refugees, enrolled in boarding school in ninth grade. Boarding school was the first time she felt like a minority; she was uncomfortable with all the things her classmates could afford that she could not. Both Michelle and Piper described similar experiences as the Doubly Disadvantaged students did, but in high school, not at Renowned. The private schools these students attended mirrored what these students later saw at Renowned. One Black student, Stephanie, even remarked that the experience at Renowned had been kind of “blah” because she was so used to it (57). Even students who were more excited by college, such as the Latina student Marina who was able to find close friends and fill her social calendar with events and lectures, felt at home in a way her Doubly Disadvantaged peers did not.

Problems at home are far more common for poor students and can interrupt the security bubble students build for themselves at Renowned. Ogun, a Latina student, remembered being impressed by how many Black students there were at Renowned, which was otherwise very similar to her high school, even having buildings with the same names and the same unwritten rules. Nevertheless, Ogun was not completely buffered from difficulties at home, such as losing friends to gun violence. Ogun also was concerned about how long her mother would be able to keep her apartment, serving as her mother’s interpreter at various welfare agencies—while also handling the rigors of college life. Jessie, a Black girl, recalled moving around many times as a youth and seeing her father get arrested. This outlook made her particularly offended by the behavior of a sorority she tried to pledge; during the initiation rituals, the girls were asked to take selfies with people experiencing homelessness near campus. Jessie was not offended by their wealth—she was used to that from her boarding school—but she was upset by their complete disregard for other people.

Conversations about being poor were difficult at Renowned too, even between students of the same class background. Patrice, the Latina student, was very comfortable at Renowned, even serving as a campus tour guide. She saw it as an extension of high school, but other Latina students criticized her, accusing her of attempting to blend in with the rich white people on campus. Such accusations made her feel like she was less of a Latina than she was. She was hurt as well because such remarks devalued the sacrifices she had made to get into college. Anne, a white student who had moved all around the country, earned a scholarship at a private school in the Midwest. There, she was able to study abroad and visit her richer friends’ vacation homes. Thus, being around rich people was not shocking for her, but she was shocked by how much the Doubly Disadvantaged white roommates she lived with freshman year clashed with her on issues of class, wealth, and privilege. Still, she didn’t find anything about Renowned weird beyond how academically well prepared most of her classmates were. Early exposure to other cultures can mute the effects of culture shock and help students better feel like they belong at college.

Students from disadvantaged backgrounds constantly see their wealthier classmates flaunting their wealth. At Renowned, clothing brands became a visible marker of class. Some freshmen hired interior decorators for their dorms or paid suitemates to share the double room so they could get the single. Marie, an Upper-Income Black student, talked casually about buying a North Face jacket while holding her Longchamp bag; to Marie, such purchases, like her family’s trips abroad, were signs of progress for her family and Black families in general. Hunter boots were the boot of choice during rainy days on Renowned—the cheapest pair on display at stores by campus sold for $169. Most of the student body has the purchasing power to not blink an eye at such prices.

The Doubly Disadvantaged typically distanced themselves from peers who lived the high life. Miranda, a Latina, talked about how hard her parents worked to support her but recounted being ashamed of her family when her freshman year roommate entered the dorm with furniture, six suitcases, and her extended family. Miranda felt she had to cover up that her sister was in prison. She also felt very insecure about her clothes: Her winter coat was from the cheaper brand ZeroXposur, rather than North Face. She could not afford to spend money on more expensive things even when aided by scholarship money, nor did she want to. North Face was the dominant brand on the Renowned campus when Jack started his research, but Canada Goose, which costs even more, quickly became the brand most wealthy students preferred. He even saw some Moncler jackets, which sell for thousands. Doubly Disadvantaged students noticed when their rich classmates changed styles, even though they couldn’t afford the trends.

The brand names did not disturb the Privileged Poor nearly as much. Virginia, a Black student who attended an all-girls private school, saw the same expensive brand names (plus computers, phones, wallets) just lying around her high school. She had also experienced access to luxury in high school, like attending a friend’s birthday at an upscale venue. Similarly, many Privileged Poor students had been able to study abroad in high school, so their Renowned peers’ travel did not shock them or make them uncomfortable. Nicole, a Black junior, even felt comfortable chiming in with stories of her own time in France, something she felt helped her move up the social ladder. Nicole had already had four years’ worth of casual references to trips and designer goods, so she could code switch her conversations, knowing when to share high-status experiences with her wealthier classmates and when to describe her socioeconomic reality.

While all disadvantaged students faced the same realities and difficulties in their home lives, only the Doubly Disadvantaged students felt culture shock at Renowned because for them, unlike the Privileged Poor, it was all new. To address this reality, college administrators and staff need to make an effort to teach the students about each other. Upper-income students need to learn about other students so lower-income students stop having to explain their lives and justify their decisions.