April 6, 2021
Credit...Illustration by The New York Times; Photograph by Jim Wilson/The New York Times
Stanford University’s faculty members may have convinced themselves that they struck a blow for egalitarianism when they voted for a policy meant to de-emphasize wealth in admitting undergraduates. But those professors should hold off on breaking out the champagne.
At a school like Stanford, wealth is not an explicit admissions criterion — imagine the outcry if it were — but the wealth of an applicant’s family makes a world of difference.
This isn’t news. A 2017 study showed that at 38 colleges, including five in the Ivy League, more students come from the top 1 percent of the income scale than from the bottom 60 percent. These hyperrich youths are a jaw-dropping 77 times as likely to attend an Ivy League college as those whose parents’ income is in the bottom 20 percent.