Members of the Elon University community have been sharing the findings of a recent study published by The Equality of Opportunity Project, which reported that 14 percent of Elon students come from families in the top 1 percent of the nation, earning more than $630,000 per year.
Many shared the report on social media, claiming they were shocked by the results.The nationwide attention on Elon’s lack of socioeconomic diversity comes a mere two years before the end of the university’s 10-year, $586 million strategic plan that boasts an “unprecedented commitment to diversity.” Its first key objective was to “double need-based financial aid.”
The university states on its website that 80 percent of the plan’s goals have been completed.
It also says funding support to Odyssey scholarships has increased by 84 percent.
But the fact that the numbers in the Equality of Opportunity Project were published eight years after the plan was announced and 80 percent of its goals were supposedly reached is embarassing.
One way the university could contribute to promoting socioeconomic diversity at Elon is by expanding on existing successful programs such as the Watson & Odyssey program.
But it’s not just about funding the existing scholarships and flaunting a percentage increase: Elon needs to create new scholarship options within the program that target a broader demographic of low-income students.
Watson & Odyssey awards scholarships to those students that exhibit high financial need as well as high academic achievement. The criteria needed to even be considered for these scholarships is, understandably, very limited. For most of the scholarships within the Watson & Odyssey program, students must be first-generation college students, racially or ethnically diverse, from North Carolina or some combination. For example, the Leon and Lorraine Watson North Carolina Scholarship, geared specifically to “North Carolina residents who have attended a North Carolina high school for one or more years,” provides $21,000 awards to eight students annually. The only two scholarships open to all students, the “Anonymous” Scholarship and the The John L. Georgeo Scholarship, collectively fund four students annually.
More scholarships like these are needed — same format, different requirements that apply to different kinds of potential students.
Administrators should also encourage all potential donors to direct their contributions to need-based scholarships first to prioritize the issue before investing in growing our campus physically.
But beyond building more options for scholarships, a vast cultural shift needs to happen at this university in how we understand and treat the issue of socioeconomic diversity.
Providing low-income students the financial opportunity to attend Elon doesn’t mean that the institution will suddenly become a place where low-income students want to come or feel like the environment we create is socially inclusive.
Pell grants cover tuition — not dorm decor or sorority dues. Elon’s reputation for being “preppy” and “snobby” on college finder websites such as Unigo is a direct result of the lack of critical conversation and culture surrounding socioeconomic diversity.
We need to include socioeconomic status in our conversations about diversity on campus in order to make Elon an institution where lower-income students would want to attend.
And with the addition of scholarships that reach a wider audience of students than the Watson & Odyssey program, these conversations and lived experiences could be discussed and shared in wider pockets across campus.
So the study shouldn’t surprise you — it should encourage you to think more critically about how your daily actions contribute to a culture where low-income students may not feel like they belong.