College applications are at the forefront of Archie Williams seniors’ minds, illuminating systemic wealth barriers to higher education, with wealthier students having easier access to resources that provide advantages in college admissions. Although Marin is an affluent area, socioeconomic disparities persist. Family financial situations remain one of the most critical factors in the colleges Archie Williams students are willing and able to apply to, a factor that can limit the opportunities available for lower-income applicants.
From the cost of the SAT or ACT, Advanced Placement (AP) tests, and application fees to the cost of private tutoring or college counseling, college is a steep financial burden on families even before they pay tuition. Coming from a wealthy family allows students to take the SAT as many times as possible to get an improved score. It also opens up college options that best fit students’ wants, rather than restricting them to in-state public schools with lower tuition. The financial pressures of college applications create inequity in college admissions processes, limiting opportunity for some applicants.
Standardized testing serves as one example of wealth inequality; despite aiming to compare students on a common benchmark through the SAT or ACT, all students are not on equal playing fields. A recent study from Opportunity Insights, a research lab at Harvard University, found that the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans are 13 times more likely to score a 1300 or higher on the SAT than low-income students.
Barb Finley, a former admissions officer at Columbia University, New York University, and the University of California, Berkeley, believes there is a positive correlation between income and SAT score.
“The higher your income, the more you can afford test prep classes, the more you can hire private tutors to help you, and generally the better that you do,” Finley said. “For a while, schools did away with standardized testing because of COVID, but now it’s optional for many private schools, and it’s coming back to being required.”
Although the impact of SAT scores has shifted with colleges adopting test-optional or test-free policies, the financial barriers that once created an advantage for low-income applicants remain and are becoming more prevalent as schools reinstate testing requirements.
Similar barriers exist for other forms of standardized testing, including AP tests. A study from Brown University found that “the Advanced Placement program, like many other examples of educational resources, benefits already privileged students and systematically excludes the already marginalized, thus perpetuating inequities.”
Another advantage in admissions comes from applying early decision (ED), an early deadline offered at many private colleges with a binding contract to commit to if admitted. This strategy benefits both the institution, which wants to secure tuition revenue and lower yield rates, and applicants who face higher acceptance rates and reduced stress in committing early. However, ED benefits higher-income families and disadvantages lower-income, less-resourced families.
“Because it is binding, students whose decision is either entirely based or heavily based on affordability are not going to apply early decision because they need to compare financial aid offers across schools to find what’s going to be the most affordable for their family, and early decision doesn’t allow you to do that,” Finley said. “As a direct result, those students are less likely to get accepted to these schools, because they’re not in a position to be able to apply early, which in many cases dramatically increases their likelihood of admission.”
Since many private colleges offer higher admission rates for ED applicants, students who depend on comparing financial aid packets, which are released after ED deadlines, miss out on the statistical advantage. Public schools such as the University of California and California State University systems, which don’t offer ED and have lower in-state tuition, tend to provide more equitable practices.
Beyond ED, wealth disparities exist in how colleges handle admissions and aid. Many schools have a need-blind admissions policy, meaning that they don’t factor in a student’s financial needs when determining whether they will be admitted. This policy gives all students an equal chance of admission regardless of their families’ socioeconomic status.
However, not all schools have the financial means to grant financial aid packages to every student who qualifies and is admitted. These are the schools that typically adopt a need-aware policy, where a student’s financial aid application is taken into account when their application is being considered.
“The students who are benefited in that process are the full-pay students, or the students who you know aren’t going to need as much aid. The more money the student needs from the school, the less likely the school will take them, because they just don’t have all the money to give. And so again, that’s a practice that absolutely disadvantages low-income students,” Finley said.
Despite these inequities, many resources exist to help students, low or high-income, navigate the complicated college application process. The vast majority of high schools, Archie Williams included, have counselors on staff who are always available to help students with the college application process or any academic support they may need, completely free of charge.
Archie Williams also has a college and career center, headed by College and Career Specialist Lisa Neumaier, that hosts college representative visits and offers assistance with college applications. Neumaier encourages students to take advantage of these resources instead of spending extra money on private college counselors.
“The expenses of counseling 100 percent are inequitable, because you either have extra money to pay for that or you don’t. We never feel like you guys need to do that, but we cannot control what people are doing in this community,” Neumaier said. “I feel like people should still try to come here and get as much help from us as possible before they make that decision, because all that money you’re spending for [private counseling] could go towards your actual college costs.”
When families don’t have access to private counseling, it places extra responsibility on parents to support their children through the college application process. Counselors provide help for the financial aid application and other challenges that students run into when applying to college.
“One of the challenges when applying to college from a parent perspective [is] navigating financial aid for sure. Every school does it a little differently, whether you’re at a private school or a public school, and they don’t make it very simple. Also being able to help your own child when they are not sure what they want to do, and trying to help your child without steering your child, is really hard to balance,” said Archie Williams parent, Melissa Wahlstrom.
Archie Williams’ College and Career Center also provides financial aid workshops to help senior families submit their financial aid applications. Partnering with 10,000 Degrees, one-on-one assistance is available to guide families through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), scholarship applications, and the CA Dream Act. To take advantage of these free resources, students can stop by the College and Career Center and stay up to date on emails from Neumaier.
Resources for students exist outside of Archie Williams through national programs to make college more affordable. The FAFSA allows access to need-based financial aid, including grants, scholarships, and federal student loans. Additionally, free waivers are available for the SAT, ACT, and many college application fees through the Common App and for up to four campuses in the University of California application.
Online resources are also available, including Net Price Calculators, which are available on most colleges’ financial aid websites and estimate the total cost of attendance after financial aid is applied. Neumaier emphasizes the importance of utilizing this tool.
“There are these Net Price Calculator tools on every single college website. So if a student goes and does that, it should spit out a pretty good estimate of what they would pay at the school. So then they should have the conversation with their parents and just say, ‘Can we afford this, assuming this is the aid I’m going to get,’” Neumaier said.
Despite the wealth barriers in the college application process, there is no shortage of free resources available to students, both at school and at home, designed to ensure that every student has equal access to higher education regardless of their financial status.
“Higher education is one of the biggest points of social mobility. Statistically speaking, research has shown that in order to [move up in society], you need to have some form of higher education. No student should be denied access to education simply because of their family’s financial situation,” Finley said.
