It’s no secret that students who come from wealthy families enjoy certain advantages when they come to college. Often they’ve gone to good high schools and had extra-curricular activities that prepared them for higher education. A UVA professor studied more than 40 students at a major Midwestern university over four years and concluded there’s another plus for rich kids.
There are many things that give wealthy students an academic edge in college – a good high school education, resources to pursue extra-curricular activities and expensive tutors to name a few. Now, University of Virginia Professor Josipa Roksa argues helicopter parents are also a help.
“The more advantaged parents monitor their children very closely, talk to them frequently, jump in at any suggestion of a problem or an issue. They help them decide on courses. They help them decide on majors.”
On the other hand, many low-income parents were unable to help.
“They haven’t gone to college. They don’t understand how college works, how classes work, how professors work, don’t have resources or connections for internships or tutoring or other kinds of things, and so those parents tend to stay kind of in the background.”
Roksa recalls two different students who wanted to attend dental school. The one with a wealthy family got help from her parents. They researched the best programs, then made sure their daughter had the grades, internships and other experiences to get in. Not so for the young woman who came from a disadvantaged background.
“There is no advice or guidance, so she is just taking classes in her pre-dental program. She makes it through, and then she graduates and works as a dental assistant in a job that doesn’t require a college degree.”
Her parents counted on the university to provide support, but Roksa says limited resources sometimes make assistance hard to find. She hopes the study will prompt universities to provide easier access to help so the nation’s gap between rich and poor doesn’t get worse.
