“It’s barely my third quarter at UCSB. I have had 5 friends leave already. They were all minorities. UCSB is too expensive, complex, and inaccessible to students who didn’t have a good high school education … no one should leave a college because they can’t afford it or because they don’t feel included or welcomed. UCSB caters to the privileged.” —@”LesleyH”
After scrolling through my Twitter feed, my heart sank upon reading
a narrative I know all too well. Lesley managed to summarize in a 140-character
post all my complex feelings about being at a competitive four-year
institution. She was a first year like me, and a woman of color in STEM (science,
technology, engineering, math) who was also trying to navigate this campus. I
had already heard about friends of friends dropping out of college because of
just how expensive and emotionally taxing it can be — especially for students
who come from my background. And we are not exceptions — 18- to 24-year-olds in
America today have among the highest rates of poverty of any age group, according
to a 2019 study by the
Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California,
Berkeley.
The whole point of going to college is to enrich your mind,
learn new things, and succeed in the subjects you have chosen to pursue;
however, academics cannot be the focus of students when they are struggling to
manage their most basic needs. Think tanks and academics who research these
issues have called attention to why there is a growing
divide in educational opportunities between low-income and first-generation
students and their peers. It is imperative that we listen to and elevate the
voices of the students who are living this truth.