While Elite Families Scam Admissions, Most Americans Can’t Afford College at all

You think the college admissions scandal is bad? Consider this: more than 1 million college students drop out each year. Getting in isn’t the problem– graduating is. If any industry needs tech disruption, it’s this one.

While the wealthy are spending tens of thousands of dollars making sure their children are accepted to the elite university of their choice, millions of college students are at risk of dropping out because they can’t afford $300 for books.

Students who are worrying about their next meal or where to sleep at night are more likely to have health problems and suffer from depression. Despite the fact that over 40% of students work more than 30 hours per week, many students are broke much of the time. They also earn lower grades than their peers, according to a study, which further increases stress levels.

All of this makes it more likely they will drop out at some point along the way – in some cases after having taken out loans to pay for the privilege. Over one million college students drop out each year – 70% because of money woes – and a recent Wall Street Journal analysis reveals a 9 percentage point gap between graduation rates between lower-income students and their higher-income peers.

In yet another article reported by Forbes, according to a new study, half of California’s community college students don’t have enough food, and 19% are homeless. Several other studies show these challenges are pervasive, both across the country and at 2-year and 4-year colleges alike.

It’s statistics like these that should be a major wakeup call for all of us to recognize how pervasive our financial health problems are in the U.S. 

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