Why Students Attending Elite Universities and Colleges Are Attracted To Socialism

The newest categories of students receiving preferential admission at elite universities and colleges are First Generation (households in which one or both parents did not attend college) and Low Income (households that cannot afford the cost of tuition and fees).  FG students make up as much as 20% of admissions and LI up to 27%.

Elite schools can offer many slots to low-income households because endowment income, annual gifts, and grants and scholarships from states and the federal government offset much of the cost of attendance.

The U.S. Department of Education (IPEDS) collects data from four-year colleges and universities and presents their full cost and after-aid cost in a standard format.

Average cost before aid:  tuition, other costs (books and on-campus room and board)

Average cost after aid

Average cost after aid by Household Income:

            Less Than $30,000

            $30,001 - $48,000

            $48,001 - $75,000

            $75,001- $110,000

            $110,001 or above

The most exclusive schools with the largest endowments and annual gifts are very generous, waving most or all expenses for families with household income below $75,000 and waiving tuition for those with income up to $125,000.

The table that follows shows the average cost before aid and the average after-aid cost for households with income below $30,000, between $30,001-$48,000, and $48,001-$75,000,

Average Cost Before And After Aid For HouseholdsBelow $75,000 in Annual Income ($)
		Average	Average Cost	Average Cost
		Cost for HI	HI 30,001-	HI 48,001-
School	Full Cost	30,000	48,000	75,000
Princeton	61,860	1,348	1,771	6,224
Harvard	64,400	-230	632	3,392
MIT	63,250	7,432	4,727	5,247
Columbia	69,084	10,917	6,596	7,648
Chicago	70,100	3,620	2,289	4,672
Yale	66,445	4,978	4,392	6,896
Stanford	64,477		2,548	3,047
Duke	67,005	-1,070	827	7,805
Penn	66,800	7,755	5,323	12,968
Northwestern	68,060	6,416	9,054	11,480
JHU	65,496	14,236	9,384	13,448
Caltech	63,471	874	10,227	10,864
Dartmouth	67,044	15,604	7,316	18,324
Brown	65,380	5,335	5,459	12,181
Vanderbilt	63,532	1,168	6,043	11,146
Cornell	65,494	14,028	10,652	15,413
Rice	58,253	7,206	6,988	9,595
Notre Dame	64,665	8,838	13,451	13,979
UCLA	33,391	8,233	9,559	12,593
Wash.U.	67,751	5,716	6,580	9,528
Williams	66,340	2,780	3,795	8,188
Amherst	66,572	5,311	10,383	11,372
Swarthmore	64,363	6,120	4,422	16,603
Wellesley	63,390	8,204	9,948	12,150
Bowdoin	63,440	5,866	9,246	15,195
Carleton	64,420	16,366	11,408	15,350
Middlebury	63,456	5,141	9,505	11,186
Pomona	64,870	5,832	8,153	7,183
ClareMcKenna	66,325	7,089	9,083	7,182
Davidson	62,894	6,643	8,468	13,225

Students from families with income less than $30,000 can attend Princeton for an annual cost of $1,348 and only $6,224 up to an income of $75,000.  (A minus number means that the school is paying a student to attend.)  And so on in varying degrees for the other 29 elite universities and colleges.   No household with annual income below $75,000 pays over $16,000.  The cost of attending an elite school is lower than most state universities.

Why are students in elite schools attracted to socialism?  Socialism is redistribution of income directed by a government.  (Redistribution can be voluntary through charity.)  Many students attending elite schools are beneficiaries of redistribution.  It’s reasonable for them to believe that if America is rich enough to redistribute income to them to attend elite schools, it should be rich enough to redistribute income to everyone to bring about an equitable distribution of income for all.

In addition, almost every university has a Center for the Study of Inequality.  Faculty in these centers strive to identify the degree of inequality that exists in the U.S. and recommend  government policies to produce a more even distribution of income.

The growth in endowment and investment income, gifts, and federal and state aid that markedly reduces the cost of attending an elite school provides support for redistribution.  No amount of socialist failures around the world will change students’ minds.

How many students understand that gifts for endowment, gifts for annual expenditure, and government grants come from those who succeed in business in a market economy.  The top 10% of income earners pay 71% of federal income taxes and a comparably large share of state income taxes, which finances government grants to students.  Without the income and profits earned in America’s market economy and the disproportionately high share of taxes they pay, there would be much less money to redistribute.

Sadly, the well-to-do serving as university trustees are at the forefront of supporting the programs of redistribution that make elite education available to students from low-income households.  In so doing, they reinforce student demands for more redistribution (more socialism).  This situation will intensify in the coming years.

An Analysis Of Admissions In Elite Universities And Colleges For The Class Of 2023

In the past two decades, almost every elite university and liberal arts college has reduced White admissions from a majority to a steadily decreasing minority of its undergraduate students.  They boast of this achievement on their web sites and in their admission brochures.  In 2019, the share of White admissions to elite schools ranges from 21% to 36% less than Whites as a share of the U.S. population.  One can plot the reduction in White admissions over the past 20 years from the published numbers in their Common Data Sets.

Until this year’s class of 2023 (2019-2023), most elite schools reported the acceptance rate, ethnic/racial and gender composition, and geographic distribution of those offered admission.  When the admission cycle is complete, as mandated by Congress, universities report applications and enrollment information to the National Center for Education Statistics.  They also fill out the Common Data Set, which includes applications, admissions, enrollments (yield), and the gender and ethnic/racial composition of enrolled (matriculated) students.

In late August 2018, Stanford announced that it would no longer publicize applications during early or regular admissions.  An official stated that Stanford feared that the large number of applicants (over 45,000), coupled with the tiny 5% (2,200) offered admission, would discourage talented students who would thrive at Stanford from applying, believing they had little chance of acceptance.  Stanford only reported the percentage of First Generation students in its Class of 2023.

Other elite schools declined to report admissions data in whole or in part.  Another change this year is that some schools reported race/ethnicity as “People of Color [POC),” combining Asians, Blacks, Hispanics, Alaskans, Indians, Pacific islanders, and mixed race into one number.  The Common Data Set reports POC as distinct racial/ethnic categories.  However, reporting POC for admissions and then months later separate racial/ethnic categories for enrollments precludes comparing the ethnic/racial composition of admissions with that of enrollments.

Elite schools are dramatically reducing transparency.  This will help many universities avoid criticism that they are imposing an admission quota on Asian students, who will be included in POC, but not separately counted for admission.

Here are instructions for reading the table that follows.  No numbers across-the-board indicate no information provided in the announcement to admitted applicants.  Empty cells indicate that no data was reported for that specific category.  Numbers in brackets [40-60%] are the POC percentage.  The substantial number of empty cells differs from prior years when the table could be completely filled out.  If you want to compare 2023 with 2022, download admissions data for 2022 from each school’s website.

The top 20 universities and top 10 liberal arts colleges are taken from the 2019 U.S. News & World Report rankings.  They are listed from top down.

Admissions to Class of 2023 for Elite Universities by Race and Ethnicity (Percent)
							Admit
School	White	Asian	Black	Hisp	Int'l	Misc.	Rate	FG
USA	60	6	13	19		3
Princeton			[56]				6	18
Harvard		25	15	12	12	3	5	16
MIT							7
Columbia							5
Chicago							6
Yale							6
Stanford								18
Duke							7
Penn			[56]				7	15
Northwestern							9
JHU	24	28	14	18	9	6	10
Caltech
Dartmouth			[51]		12		8	16
Brown			[49]		13		7	14
Vanderbilt
Cornell			[55]		8		11	13
Rice							9
Notre Dame							15
UCLA
Wash.U.	39	20	15	13	8	5	14
Williams	37		[58]		11	5	12	20
Amherst	27	20	21	18	11	3	11	11
Swarthmore					10		9	27
Wellesley	32		[57]		11		20	17
Bowdoin							9
Carleton							21
Middlebury							16
Pomona	28	18	14	20	14	6		20
ClareMcKenna
Davidson

FG:  First Generation
Notre Dame:  [POC + International] = 47%

No admissions information:  Caltech, UCLA, Claremont McKenna, Davidson.  Vanderbilt admission rate was 20% for Early Action and 6% for Regular Decision, but no information on the overall rate.

Admission Rate only:  MIT, Columbia, Chicago, Yale, Duke, Northwestern, Rice, Notre Dame, Bowdoin, Carleton, Middlebury.

Selective information:  Stanford, Swarthmore

People of Color instead of separate information on Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, and Mixed:  Princeton, Penn, Dartmouth, Brown, Cornell, Williams, and Wellesley.

Full information excluding Whites:  Harvard.

Full information:  JHU, Washington U., Amherst, Pomona

The percentage Whites admitted is listed for 6 schools.  Percentage White can be derived for 6 additional schools by subtracting the sum of People of Color and International Students from 100%.

Where reported or derived, with the exception of Notre Dame with White admissions of 53%, the percentage White varies from a low of 24% to a high of 39% of admitted applicants.  Compared with the national population, Whites are under represented by a low of 21% to a high of 36%.

Ideology?  Diversity?  Implications?  Consequences?