July 15, 2005

Aid for the Rich?

New research backs the views of University of California officials who believe that the National Merit Scholarship Program ends up helping students who may not need much help in the first place.

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The University of California this week announced that the six campuses in the system that award National Merit Scholarships plan to stop doing so and instead spend the money on other aid for students. Faculty members and administrators said that their analysis found that low-income and minority students were unlikely to receive the scholarships. Critics say that the program is flawed because it uses scores on the PSAT — a standardized test on which black and Latino students, on average do not do as well as white and Asian students — to pick semifinalists.

The California decision was based primarily on research about students in that university system.

Research released by the Cornell Higher Education Research Institute says the same trends are evident nationwide. The scholars analyzed enrollment trends at colleges that finance National Merit Scholarships (other National Merit Scholarships are paid for by corporations) and found a correlation between an increase in college-financed merit awards and a decrease in Pell Grant recipients at a college. Since Pell Grants are the primary federal program for low-income students, the scholars used Pell Grant recipients as a proxy for low-income enrollments.

The research also found that the displacement of low-income students was greatest at institutions that enroll the greatest number of National Merit Scholars.

A paper summarizing the findings urges colleges to consider the impact of National Merit Scholarships (and other merit aid) on low-income enrollments. The findings, the authors write, show “the tradeoff that may exist more broadly between using institutional grant aid to craft a more selective student body than would otherwise occur and using institutional grant aid to attract more students from families from the lower tail of the family income distribution.”

The paper was written by Ronald G. Ehrenberg, director of the Cornell institute; Liang Zhang, assistant professor of higher education at the University of Minnesota; and Jared M. Levin, a research assistant at the institute.

— Scott Jaschik

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Comments

Is it REALLY aid for the rich?

Something is flawed in these researcher’s logic if they assume that merit awards have the rich white and Asian kids as a target. The fact of the matter is that those awards reward students who have the most academic knowledge (in combination with other factors) — and that is not racism. While it is sad that, in a generic sense on average, certain cultures (Hispanic and black) do not place as large an emphasis on book learning than other cultures (white and Asian), this should not be used to discriminate against those who place an emphasis on scholarly studies in high school.

I know several low-wage white families who adopted Hispanic or black infants and each child was raised in a home where school was considered important. Each one scored in the 1400’s on their SAT exams — not because of genetics, but because of the culture they were raised in.

Likewise, high income families (regardless of race) have children who score higher than their middle to low income peers because of that culture.

This is not rocket science. We are products of our upbringing, and one human is not genetically inclined to score higher or lower on a test based on what color they are. Humans that score highest have generally taken the time to learn the material on which they are being tested. It is unfortunate that certain cultures do not stress the importance of learning subject matter starting in kindergarten all the way through high school. It has been my personal observations that have guided me to believe that those cultures which do not perform well on tests are more interested in extracurricular activities away from the classroom.

I’m not diminishing from the fact that some cultures are hit hard with many of the negative aspects that surround lower income neighborhoods (drugs, unemployment, teen pregnancy, emphasis on sports, under-qualified teachers, gang violence, etc), but I am saying that effort should be rewarded for those that score well on certain tests and not overlooked because the test-taker is not the desired minority ethnicity or income level.

Bob, at 11:12 am EDT on July 19, 2005

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Is it REALLY aid for the rich?

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