The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges are Failing Disadvantaged Students

“And statistics can lie or, at least, hide deeper truths.”

While college pamphlets and “viewbooks” showcase a diverse student body, and diversity numbers are actually improving, statistics do not tell the whole story. Indeed, the purpose of Jack’s research is to rectify that discrepancy by adding qualitative research to the robust statistical data that already exists on low-income and non-white college students.

“The Privileged Poor know what life is like below the poverty line. They also know how the 1 percent learn and live. The Doubly Disadvantaged only know the former.”

One of the key distinctions Jack makes throughout the book is between the Privileged Poor and the Doubly Disadvantaged. He argues that the former come into Renowned three or four years ahead of their Doubly Disadvantaged peers, because they already have been prepared for both the rigors of norms of college life as well as the culture of their wealthier peers. However, both groups are still impoverished and suffer food scarcity and the other problems.

“We do poor students as a whole a disservice if we assume that their stories are all the same.”

The impetus for Jack’s research is his belief that colleges have too often lumped all lower-income students into one category. That is, even when universities set up programs with the best intentions of helping disadvantaged students, they fail because they do not recognize that the Privileged Poor and the Doubly Disadvantaged face unique challenges.