<p>I really appreciated this article. I haven’t experienced everything in the article, but there have definitely been moments where I’ve felt at a loss because of differences in class at Duke: a not-insignificant number of professors and students alike make reference to a sixty-thousand dollar a year price tag (and it is assumed that we are all paying that amount in that type of joke); my parents will never be able to come down for Parents’ Weekend, and I will never be able to go hom for really anything other than the holiday break; I can’t afford to eat out/go out as much as some of my friends do.</p>
<p>Now, do I feel actively persecuted at Duke? Of course not. But there are choices that people make (what they buy, where they go, what they talk about, what groups they participate in) that can sometimes make me feel more conscious of differences in class and illuminate those differences for one party while not for another.</p>
<p>I think Kelly’s article was good in that it sparked conversation on campus. It gave people a reason, as it were, to talk about it, and it’s my hope that it makes people just a little more conscious of those differences and how to understand how those differences can either affect our actions or make people feel, even unintentionally.</p>
<p>@texaspg-- We can earn a little money on work-study (2200)/summer earnings (2100-2600) but both of those contributions are included in a FA package. I would also suspect that any extra money the author earns may go towards other expenses that she has (books, materials for projects, other academic things), if her expsenses are such as described.</p>