Reflections on Privilege in Higher Education

2020 has been a year of reflection for many people. In particular, I am optimistic that renewed focus on systemic racism and economic inequities will fuel real changes in how many individuals and organizations think about and act on promoting inclusivity and fairness. However, while reflecting on my undergraduate experience I have come to the conclusion that many of the advantages I had during college were somewhat subtle and/or difficult to address through many common techniques of diversity-promotion. By articulating these advantages and brainstorming some partial solutions, I hope that I and others can be more conscious of these exclusive processes and more in a position to help implement inclusive ones.

Ways that my privilege has helped me

The most obvious benefit of economic privilege is not having to worry about money during college. Having to get a job to cover living expenses and/or tuition would have made everything (from courses to research to volunteering to attending extra seminars) so much more difficult, and doing all three at once impossible. Even with complete financial aid independent of work-study, however, the knowledge that your financial coverage depends on your grades is much more stressful than if the only thing you have to lose if you fail a test is your ego or your parents’ approval. Don’t get me wrong: having high expectations from your ego and/or your family is stressful enough, but this is still fundamentally different. In general, having a financial safety net makes risk-taking (including academic and professional exploration) more possible and internally palatable. I will never truly know what it feels like to be worried about having enough money for next month’s rent, because I would always know in the back of my mind that I could ask my family for help. I have come to believe that this psychological difference can be very potent in determining individuals’ ability to find and pursue opportunities.

Another major factor in higher education is knowledge about academic opportunities, and so much of this knowledge comes from our parents and friends. Did your parents know that if you score at a certain level on the SAT, then you can automatically get some scholarship money every year from your state university? This was the case at CU. Did you know that PhD programs in STEM are most often fully funded, in contrast to most masters degrees from any field and PhDs from the humanities, as well as professional degrees such as law, business, or medicine, for which you have to pay? Did anyone tell you that going in to a professor’s office hours to talk with them about their research topics (which you can Google beforehand) is a great way to gain access to mentorship and research positions? If no one told you or your parents this kind of information, how are you supposed to navigate the world of higher education as successfully as those who are in the know?

Even if you’re not worried about finances in college, having the time and resources to pursue extracurriculars in high school (or earlier) can often provide a leg up in gaining self-confidence and various skills before entering college. For instance: I know that I have benefitted from physical health habits from my high school sports team as well as public presentation skills developed during music performance. In addition to the obvious personal and professional benefits, extracurricular hobbies can help connect you with other privileged people who have had similar experiences. When it came to forming study groups with peers or getting to know professors and grad students, I often found myself talking about outdoor activities such as hiking, mountain biking, or skiing.

A recent experience I had highlighted this subtle force at play. I had decided to attend an applied statistics seminar, curious to learn about some statistics applications in fields other than public health. I joined the Zoom call a few minutes early and listened to some of the professors chatting about hobbies they picked up during the pandemic quarantine. At one point, a professor said he and his wife were thinking about getting into cross-country skiing and asked if anyone knew much about the sport. There was a long pause on the call, then he asked again, sounding surprised that no one had spoken up. Mustering my courage, I turned on my camera and said that I was experienced with cross-country skiing. For context, I was on the Boulder Nordic Junior Racing Team for ten years. The professor enthusiastically messaged me in the Zoom chat, asking if I would be willing to talk with him sometime about what equipment to purchase. I agreed and then Googled him. It turned out he is an incredibly accomplished academic and is currently the director of a prestigious research institute at Harvard. The next day, we had a Zoom conversation not only about cross-country skiing but also some about our research interests. I’m not sure whether our paths will ever cross again, but this experience stood out to me as a classic example both of “The Power of Showing Up and Reaching Out” to people and of the networking advantages from shared hobbies as a result of financial privilege.

Other social products of privilege include communication style and existing connections. The ways we speak and write, the way we formulate ideas, and the way we present ourselves are all strongly influenced by our social backgrounds – who we have spent and currently spend time around. Subtle cues may make a student feel more or less comfortable approaching a professor or grad student or student organization. And of course, existing connections through your family or community not only can help you find internships but also can help provide you with context to guide you. For instance: the more adults or older students you know who have attended college or been in a white collar job, the more people you have to ask for advice. Even just listening to stories can help you feel more comfortable choosing certain paths.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but I think these are the main factors that shaped my college experience and were heavily influenced by my privileged economic status.

Some ideas for remedying these inequities

The following ideas and opinions are not novel, but they are ones that I think the American education system needs to work on to level the playing fields in higher education as much as possible.

1. Public high schools need to have more rigorous programs for students and parents to learn about higher education options and associated financial choices (ideally aimed at families with lower levels of parent education). We the taxpayers need to vote in support of financing public education to make this (among other things) feasible.

2. Universities should strive to provide financial aid (to help with both tuition and living expenses) independently of student loans or work-study whenever possible, so that students have the same amount of time and energy as their more privileged peers to pursue extracurriculars and build wealth after graduation. Of course this is more expensive, but it should still be a prominent goal.

3. Colleges should have programs / communities with the explicit mission of guiding and supporting students from less privileged backgrounds. Building social support systems and making academic and professional guidance more accessible is key. In particular, I think it is important to tell students about the availability of extracurricular and career opportunities, including the value of and possibilities for undergraduate research and internships. The CU College of Engineering BOLD Center appeared to me to model this type of action, with a combination of professional and personal support to help students figure out what they wanted to do with their lives and how to successfully pursue those paths. However, based on my observations at CU, I still think that more needs to be done to ensure that students from less privileged backgrounds have all the same information and opportunities. I don’t know exactly how to do this, except to set aside more university funds for these kinds of enterprises, so that credible people with ideas can take control and make appropriate changes.

4. Unpaid internships should be strongly discouraged in university, nonprofit, and corporate settings. Otherwise, students who need to make money may miss out on the chance to gain real work experience, which in turn opens the door to future professional opportunities. However, this issue is not black and white because students will often start doing research in an unpaid position and then transition into a paid position, and we don’t want labs, organizations, or companies to stop offering as many internships because they have to pay undergraduate interns. The good news is that many universities offer programs to help pay students to work for a nonprofit organization for a summer or more. However, again, knowing that a program like this exists is crucial. At CU, for instance, this program doesn’t have nearly enough advertising for the student body at large. In general, universities should also try to fund more undergraduate research to increase accessibility.

5. Individuals in leadership positions who are willing to mentor students should make this clear to all. For instance, professors could explicitly tell all of their students that their office hours are open for discussion about career paths in their field in addition to going through class material (even if they restricted this kind of discussion only to times when no one else had questions on the class material). Then, professors should try to make just as much effort to connect with students with whom they do not have common background as with those with whom they share hobbies, etc. Similarly, student leaders in many school clubs could also make greater efforts to welcome and support students who they (we) don’t necessarily identify with off the bat. Of course this is easier said than done, but it’s aspirational.

6. Public educational institutions (both at the university level and K-12) should prioritize hiring of diverse faculty members as well as those with demonstrated commitment to diversity promotion. The former may help students from underrepresented groups to more easily find mentors with whom they personally identify and can communicate more freely. This too might be easier said than done because, due to past inequities, there may be fewer qualified candidates from underrepresented groups. Thus, in the interim it may be acceptable to hire and support some faculty who are dedicated to diversity promotion, regardless of their backgrounds. In general, universities should more formally include mentoring of undergraduates in the list of activities that can help faculty to receive tenure and other promotions.

This recent journal article provides more detailed thoughts on mentoring undergraduate research in statistics, specifically. 2023 update: this article about building and retaining Black talent in Chemistry is also insightful.

Again, this is by no means an exhaustive list of partial solutions. It is intended to spark further brainstorming and discussion among those with current or future influence over these kinds of processes.