Skip to content
Opinion
The Editors

Help Poor Students Scale the Ivory Tower

America's top colleges don't enroll enough students from poor backgrounds. Here's how to fix that.
Elite access?

Elite access?

Photographer: Erin Lubin/Bloomberg
Corrected

America's elite colleges are more selective than ever before. They also remain disproportionately populated by the wealthy -- in part because many qualified students from poor backgrounds don't even apply.

The good news is that there are proven strategies for ensuring that promising students get the opportunities they deserve. What it takes is a concerted effort to reduce barriers and strengthen programs that give low-income kids more guidance about their college options.