Summary 11

Tamara Draut, in her article The Growing College Gap, argues for more government help for college students and for a closing in the college gap between the wealthy and more moderate backgrounds. Due to the dropping economy, community colleges have been losing funding and tuition rates for all colleges have sky rocketed. And it is becoming more apparent that a college education is the only way to have finical security in the middle class. What once was a high school diploma, is now the equal to today's bachelor degree. As a result of a growing need for higher education to made a good living in today's society and higher college rates with less finical assistance, the gap between the students with a wealthy background and students from middle or lower income families is expanding. Community colleges are over flowing with students who can't afford to go to a four year university. Universities and elite colleges are only full of students who can afford to attend. In the 70's, the government made an effort to make college affordable to every high school senior in America. The result was the doubling of enrollment rates of students from poor or moderate families, to universities. However, in recent years, scholarships and financial aid are being awarded to students based on performance, rather than on need. As a result, less college qualified students are applying to continue their education. And out of the ones who do decide to attend, only a small portion are graduating. Most of these students end up dropping school work, because they have to work full-time in order to afford it. By providing more aid to students based on needs and less for merits, we can begin to close the gap between the wealthy and the poorer and poor.