Extra Credit
I watched “(Un)Privileged: The Cost of Being Poor at An Elite Institution” on YouTube. It was interesting to hear from these low-income students about their experiences attending an elite school and being surrounded by people who come from much wealthier backgrounds. It was sad to hear about their guilt and conflicted feelings about being away at school and living with things they did not have before. It was also sad to hear about their feelings of not fitting in and their struggles. I found various connections between it and my project and things we have discussed in class.
A man interviewed in the film, Angel Pérez, was the Vice President of Enrollment and Student Success at Trinity College. He discussed how first-generation college students face various issues that their wealthier peers may not face, including a lack of knowledge about the process due to their parents not attending college. This reminds me of Armstrong and Hamilton’s “Paying for the Party” with how high income students gained various privileges from their wealthier backgrounds that included college-educated parents. Specifically, in the case of Emma and Taylor, “without highly educated and well-informed parents like Taylor’s, it was hard for Emma to entirely avoid the lure of the robust party pathway at MU” (Armstrong & Hamilton 8). Lacking the parental knowledge and experience of college, Emma did not know to avoid the party pathway whereas Taylor’s parents’ attendance at college was advantageous for her by allowing her to know to avoid the party pathway.
One girl stated, “Everyone [you] meet is like let’s go out, let’s go eat here and I’m just like well bye guys, like I don’t got dough like that” (7:49-8:02). Later in the video she discussed how it was hard for her to be away from her family knowing their financial situation. She explained, “I have like a buffet for a meal … I know it’s like leftovers in the fridge and like peanut butter and jelly for like school everyday for my brothers” (22:23-39). This reveals that she comes from a background where food insecurity may be present and that her acceptance and scholarship to college through the QuestBridge program allowed her stable access to food. Relating to my project, this can show the benefits of such programs in assisting low-income students, specifically by making it so that they can attend college without having to worry about their access to food.
Another student detailed, “I also stay because of access to food everyday and warmth” (28:35-41). This student was very grateful for things that many take for granted, helping reveal the hiddenness of/lack of attention paid to the issues of food and housing insecurity. We often do not consider that some people do not have consistent access to enough food and housing. Following this, another student explained that, after college, he wants to buy his mom a house because they had never had a stable home. The second student came from a background with housing insecurity and was thankful that the QuestBridge program allowed him to have stable housing. He looked forward to using his college degree (and the improved job and salary prospects it brings) to be able to buy his mother a house so that they would not experience housing insecurity again. Such a program can help students escape situations of food and/or housing insecurity and prevent cycles of poverty.
I believe the most important quote from the documentary is, “Trinity is not a healthy community for minority and low-income students. There’s no immediate solution to address the struggles of first-generation, low-income students but if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past four years is that we need to talk about these issues” (31:35-53). This emphasizes the struggles that low-income students face and that we need to discuss their struggles in order to better understand and help them. Solutions do not have to be the end-all-be-all solution and fix every problem. Any steps towards helping students could be beneficial. I see a connection between this and my topic of food and housing insecurity because, without listening to those in need, acknowledging the issues they are facing, and working to support them, their needs go unmet and their situations will not improve. If colleges do not acknowledge and meaningfully work to mitigate the issues that first-generation, low-income, and/or minority students face, these students will continue to face hardships. Similarly, if colleges and the government do not acknowledge the problem of food and housing insecurity and work to better support students, many students will continue to experience food and/or housing insecurity and the negative effects these have on their academic performance and wellbeing.
Armstrong, Elizabeth, and Laura Hamilton. Paying for the Party: How College Maintains Inequality. Harvard UP, 2013.
Gonzalez, Bettina, director. (Un)Privileged: The Cost of Being Poor at An Elite Institution. YouTube, YouTube, 23 May 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZUsjhlRFnw.
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