The privileged poor How elite colleges are failing disadvantaged students

The term "elite colleges" has historically indicated both "colleges for the elites" and prestigious institutions. Today, wanting to hold on to their prestige while also shedding their reputations for exclusivity, elites schools aim to admit students from a wider range of racial/ethnic origins and class backgrounds. Policy makers also see attendance at top schools as a route to upward mobility for lower income students, but without considering how students from non-elite backgrounds adapt to these traditionally elite settings. Jack (Harvard Univ.) attempts to address this issue through interviews with two sets of students at a school he designates "Renowned University." One set consists of "the Privileged Poor": lower income students who have had the opportunity to participate in college preparatory programs. The other set consists of "the Doubly Disadvantaged": students from low-income backgrounds who have had no opportunity to prepare for elite college life. While he finds substantial variation in both groups, he argues that both still tend to face challenges once at college, necessitating a move beyond diversifying admission toward greater inclusion. Despite the book's insight into the challenges of diversification, it remains unclear how much elite colleges can and should do to accommodate students from every background. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers. --Carl Leon Bankston, Tulane University