@BldrDad - oh, yes sir. You are preaching to the choir. While my D, Class of 18, may be privileged, when I went to Yale in 1978, I came there as a working class African American female from a disadvantaged public school. I do not need to be told how hard it is to adjust. I remember my first semester as clearly as if it was yesterday and wondering what the heck I had gotten myself into. I got terrible grades, didn’t understand how all the students around me seemed to be so worldly and know so much, and was terribly homesick. What got me through was hanging with other students like myself and the determination to not let “them” beat me. I went on to graduate, go to grad school and now am in the position so that my child is one of those kids I wondered about back then (a fact that I remind her of often).
Now, I work with students at my old high school and other under served public schools to recruit students for Yale and my D’s hoity toity high school. One of the biggest issues I bring to the table is that just dropping a disadvantaged child into an environment like that is a great disservice and that they need supports. When their rommates are jaunting off to Florida for Spring Break, they are at school because they can’t afford to go home, more less to Florida. While my kid is joining activities, they have to work to have spending money (like I did). While my kid is gallivanting off to Germany this summer to immerse herself in German culture and language (and not making a dime in the process), there will be others working their tails off just to have money for books next year.
I work with Questbridge Scholars, Bill Gates/College Success Foundation and other foundations with students for the very reason you cite, giving a student money to attend a school is not the answer to their prayers. But in Yale’s defense, even its most disadvantaged students still have the same graduation rate as the rest of its students. That I know for a fact.