The Paradigm of Privilege
University Dynamics Change as Wealthier Students Enroll
Liz Funk
Issue date: 4/4/07 Section: Features
When news of the 2006 rape scandal at Duke University broke, the university's name was strewn across newspaper and magazine headlines at newsstands around the country. Each article, be it a news blurb, magazine feature, interview or investigative essay, highlighted one aspect of Duke: it's a privileged kid's school. Various writers discussed the lavish lives of Duke students, who drink $10 martinis at lunch, split their time between Wasp-y suburbs and Europe and enjoy their elevated status on the social food chain.
At our University, similar privileged people surface. On any given weekend, it's easy to find students at local bars downing drinks as if money is not a concern. Students bustle into residence halls on Saturday afternoons, their arms heavy with shopping bags and their (parents') steaming credit cards. However, the situation can be entirely different for students from families with lower incomes. These students hold jobs, conserve money and choose their majors based on getting a lucrative career to pay off student loans.
"I've been here since 1990," Dr. Bill Offutt, director of the Honors College and long-time professor of history, said. "In 1990, there were very few children of parents who made more than $100,000."
While Offutt maintains the University boasts students from both sides of the socioeconomic spectrum, he feels the privileged students are a prominent force on campus.
Andre Cordon, assistant director for admissions at the University, said as an admissions officer, he would have trouble "guesstimating" the range of socioeconomic backgrounds of students. This is partly because the wealthiest students often do not file family income information with the University, as they are not eligible for financial aid. Hence, there is little-to-no record of how many students' families make upwards of $125,000 (the figure that most sociologists define as "privileged.")
However, Cordon did surmise there is a large quantity of students from privileged backgrounds at the University, given "there are many students who we don't much have [sic] financial information on, so we can assume they are wealthy enough to not need financial aid." He continued: "It's harder to tell at a private school where everything a student might otherwise report is optional."
At our University, similar privileged people surface. On any given weekend, it's easy to find students at local bars downing drinks as if money is not a concern. Students bustle into residence halls on Saturday afternoons, their arms heavy with shopping bags and their (parents') steaming credit cards. However, the situation can be entirely different for students from families with lower incomes. These students hold jobs, conserve money and choose their majors based on getting a lucrative career to pay off student loans.
"I've been here since 1990," Dr. Bill Offutt, director of the Honors College and long-time professor of history, said. "In 1990, there were very few children of parents who made more than $100,000."
While Offutt maintains the University boasts students from both sides of the socioeconomic spectrum, he feels the privileged students are a prominent force on campus.
Andre Cordon, assistant director for admissions at the University, said as an admissions officer, he would have trouble "guesstimating" the range of socioeconomic backgrounds of students. This is partly because the wealthiest students often do not file family income information with the University, as they are not eligible for financial aid. Hence, there is little-to-no record of how many students' families make upwards of $125,000 (the figure that most sociologists define as "privileged.")
However, Cordon did surmise there is a large quantity of students from privileged backgrounds at the University, given "there are many students who we don't much have [sic] financial information on, so we can assume they are wealthy enough to not need financial aid." He continued: "It's harder to tell at a private school where everything a student might otherwise report is optional."
Be the first to comment on this story