Introduction 

The word “college” scares a lot of students, especially ones of low class. This is because these types of students worry about financial issues later on in life that they know their parents would not be able to take care of. “How does being federally defined “low-income” affect first-generation students’ academic performance?” is an interesting topic of words because the federal government appointed a limited amount of money to students who can not afford even what is left to pay for college. The topic of “inequality in higher level education” has been discussed for over 3 decades. With data reports from as far as 1992 from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) showing the percentage of minority students enrolling in public and private universities, the topic creates an even more direct question that has not been answered in its entirety. Students around the globe struggle from poverty, unwillingly, due to many reasons. This tends to outcast these individuals, making them feel as though they are not worthy to achieve a better level of education. With this pressure being placed on individuals, comes controversy across the world. So without further ado, let’s dive right into it. 

 Information 

Between the years of 1992 & 2002, the rate of enrollment for minorities actually grew to about 62% with majority of these student being hispanic, according to the Integrated Postsecondary Educational Data System (IPEDS). Around this time, a lot of first generation students were seeking higher level education at a lower cost. With this mindset, more students started to lean toward community colleges in which they could obtain the same education at a lower cost. The surge of college students attending community college students grew drastically. Along with this growth, a lot of minority student groups pursued an alternative way to maintain a stable way of living, which were to get certifications. The number of certifications that were given to students around the U.S. were the highest it has ever been between the years of ’92 to ’93.  Although, over the years more students started to obtain their associate’s degree and surpassing the time required to obtain a certification. 

With this information being presented, data shows that around 13% of students are less likely to graduate with a bachelor’s degree after attending a community college. There has also been controversy in graduate schools according to Michael Bastedo, with one legal scholar presenting an analysis that showed the minority students were passing the bar exam with far lower rates than others. It has been hypothesized that low SES (socioeconomic status) students are less likely to attend 4-year colleges and are more so to attend community colleges over the years. A lot of comparisons across cohorts, in which statisticians group together a particular race and gender together, tend to cause controversy. This is because students in more recent cohorts may be more likely to pursue the idea of attending a 4-year university than the previous cohorts, according to Bastedo and Maquette in their section titled “Limitations.”  

It has been proven through extensive research that the socioeconomic status, also known as the SES, is one the strongest correlations to academic performance according to Senior researcher, Marjolein Muskens. The relation between a students’ SES and academic performance is primarily based upon several factors such as differences in cognitive development related to experiences presented from poverty, low SES students’ have a higher chance of encountering lower educational expectations from their parents and they have a higher chance of being placed in low resource schools compared to high-SES students, according to Muskens. Being placed in these social classes, alter the minds of young students created a stigma of incapability. The statistics that are discussed are also similar in the Dutch. In both Europe and the U.S., secondary school (high school) is followed by tertiary school (college) during the late years of adolescence. 

The general view is that disagreements are undesirable and have a long-term negative impact on wages and work conditions. Subjective experience at university is also important from the perspective of graduation and life course development. These experiences are accumulated in adulthood and can have lasting consequences. However, little is known about the relationship between underestimation in higher education and  the student’s subjective experience, and the potential role of student SES in this context. Using a consultant pattern of 22,521 adolescents, the modern examine tries to beautify information approximately those members of the family and their improvement over the direction of college students` time in better education. From an educational misalignment perspective, undermatching ends in much less delight due to the mismatch among college students` excessive capability and the much less rigorous instructional software in much less selective institutions. However, from a social misalignment perspective, undermatching could have distinctive affects on low SES and excessive SES college students, and social misalignment skilled in much less selective environments than extra selective facilities. Students with a low SES historical past are anticipated to be extra glad because of their much less experience. .. In addition, the position of studying time in those relationships (ie, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year) is investigated.

With low SES students coming from low resourced schools, they are only taught what the state curriculum allows teachers to present. Scores from the core subjects were compared from 1982 to 2004 and there was a significant increase. The lowest SES rose from a 2 in algebra 1/geometry to a 3. This was a major deal for researchers at this time. The scores from the SAT & ACT were also compared and there was an increase of .3 from 1972 to 2004 (Bastedo, Selection Into the SAT). With their being many statistics to prove that low SES students are less likely to move forward with higher level education, the government still does not want to acknowledge this problem. These students that come from a lower social class are working just as hard as others, and are still underfunded due to laws that were established 50 years ago. 

Conclusion

Students attending less selective colleges tend to have fewer employment opportunities and lower long-term wages than underrated students. Therefore, undermatches are primarily seen as an undesired result in the literature, especially among low SES students who are prone to undermatches. Due to the importance of subjective experience for adolescent development to adulthood and the literature gap on disagreement, SES, and student satisfaction, current studies include adolescents. It contains 21,452 respondents (67 men). Large-scale cohort study. How student satisfaction and undermatching in college using propensity score matching are related. The results show a negative link between underestimation and satisfaction with the increasing social and academic environment towards fourth-year college students. This relationship appeared to be negative for both low SES and high SES students. For example, below-average students, regardless of SES, are less satisfied with their academic environment than students who match the end of the new year. In addition, the satisfaction of the matched students is stable, although the satisfaction is reduced during the first year. These findings have important implications for understanding student development-related discrepancies and for policy intervention. The high likelihood of absenteeism from students with a low SES background can exacerbate their educational disadvantages. This is because low satisfaction associated with disagreement can adversely affect college graduation, and because the long-term experience of adolescent stress can have detrimental consequences for their health and well-being in adulthood.

Calvin Thompson

Dr. Weaver

English Comp II

4 March 2022

Summary

Cornell College is a college that presents itself as a community for all attendees including staff. They are about students thriving and becoming successful while attending. Cornell believes in engaging in the community and gaining life experiences, with over 270+ courses they offer dedicated to just this purpose (Cornell University, public engagement page). They also have over 7,000 students contributing annually to these local communities. Cornell’s mission is to target students who are already active in their current environment or students who are open to being heavily active in their environment. Students and faculty are also very high on sustainability, with Cornell College being the #1 ivy league college when it comes to this factor. With the amount of students that are active on campus, this is fairly facile (CU, sustainability page).. As far as grading does, Cornell College uses a fair letter grading system, with an A+ (4.3) being the highest possible grade and a F (0.0) being the lowest possible grade.

Analysis

As presented in the summary, the college is trying to target a certain group of potential students. They want these students to feel as though this is the college for them, by presenting such school activities and organizations to help persuade the ideal student to attend the school. Cornell offers a “hub” that houses six units and programs, dedicated for students interested in creating a environment for all student body (CU, Engaged Cornell Hub). This is a major contribution to the school’s core values, which includes being “a community of belonging” (CU, Core Values).

 To further explicate, the ideal reader that would be researching this college and contemplating if they may want to attend this college is the student who is already actively seeking for a community that is both engaging and expressive. The college expresses the Small Rhetorical Strategy of “audience” because of their mission statement and active role in the community. Cornell University’s mission is to make sure students are expressive and innovative. This college strives to not only help the students attending, but also the community of its small town Ithaca, NY. The school encourages students to participate in social gatherings and environmental changes. A big part of the school’s mission is to maintain high sustainability for each campus, in which they also include Cornell Tech. Cornell college also is major in leadership, with the college having organizations that are dedicated to just that. For example, their page on the “Board of Trustees” gives a little insight on their Vice President and General Counsel, Donica Thomas Varner.

 There are also links on the page that further talk about the committee’s contributions. Shying away from the topic of keeping up with the community, the college is also known for its elite status in being an “ivy league school or ancient eight” (CU, university facts). The school is a federal land grant institution, making it a private university although they have a strong public influence (CU, university facts). Cornell University is the first college, of many, that offer over 19 modern Asian languages (CU, university facts) which is major considering only a few colleges offer this. Cornell college is seemingly variant in who they may target, but all students who apply or who are interested in attending this school must have at least two thing in common, which is their community engagement and their academic stability. Students also must come prepared due to the high school population (25,582 as of Fall ‘21) because it may be troubling acquiring proper help. This is very important to many students, because they may need certain resources the college may offer but due to the school populating so many students, resources may be limited. So it is recommended that all students that plan to attend this school, create study habits that stick and are efficient. Make sure you are very understanding and very schedule-oriented. The school is also big on “Diversity and Inclusion”, as it has a page dedicated just to explain their mission of implanting any and every student with a proper education regardless of their race or background. The college “strives to be a welcoming, caring and equitable community” (CU, Diversity and Inclusion page).

Response

            Now the question is this: Would I attend this school? Based on the general audience the school is reaching out to, I don’t think I would be a great fit for one reason. I try to utilize all of my resources when attending a school, so for me not to be able to get proper help when needed due to overpopulation. The college is great as far as education, due to its large number of undergraduate students that return as graduate students. Although, there are many internships offered once you are far into your field. This could be helpful to students who are seeking jobs right after they are out of school and want to go straight into their career.

This is my take on the interview I had with my partner, Fatoumata Diallo on her upbringing to how she got to where is currently. We scheduled interview questions via text message due to both of our busy schedules and proceeded from there. Fatoumata is a 17 year old college attendee attending Georgia State University’s Clarkston Campus. I say attendee because Fatoumata is in the DECA program which allows her to take college courses as a high school student. She is the first in her family to go to college and she plans on graduating in the class of 2024 with her bachelor’s degree in Biology. She received her k-12 education in the state of Georgia at a variety of schools, which influenced her decision to stay within the state to pursue a higher level of education. 

I made it my responsibility to understand my partner and how she describes herself, academically. She described herself as a hardworking, visual, and flexible person. We share a common factor which is that we both attended the DECA program. This program is for scholars that are very hardworking to earn a chance to graduate high school with both a college associate’s degree and high school diploma which she is taking advantage of. She then mentioned that her best way of learning new material or reviewing past material is to see the material multiple times and make sure to quiz herself. I felt as though this was an amazing habit that she picked up and felt the need to take note of that for myself. Lastly, she mentioned that she is very flexible in the way that she learns so she is very open to new learning mechanisms and feel as though there is no one way to learn anything. 

Fatoumata presented to me that her main goal is to strive to be the best her she can be. She believes academic success is important, and goes on to show this through her work. With her being a first generation student and graduate, she must focus on the most important things for herself right now which is going to the next level. Due to Fatoumata taking advantage of the program that she is in, she is even closer to getting her bachelor’s degree and she plans on finding a job within that field immediately after graduating. During our discussions, she would mention the importance of this milestone for not only herself, but also for her family as well.