Discrimination Against Whites in College Admissions
There is an ugly truth bearing its head in our institutions of higher learning, and there are dire consequences to be had as a result. White students, specifically poor white students, have been heavily discriminated against in the college admissions process for decades. That last sentence will seem counter-intuitive to some, but the data is conclusive and it may be at the very core of why we have such a dramatic ideological divide in politics these days.
The National Survey of College Experience collected data on 30+ colleges and universities (see the incisive book written by Thomas Espenshade and Alexandria Radford on the data) going back to the early 1980′s and what they found were consistent policies of racial discrimination in admissions across the board. This goes beyond affirmative action, where lesser qualified black and Hispanic students routinely get accepted at the expense of more academically deserving white and Asian students. More disturbingly, it even affected financial aid amounts in an inverse manner for white and black students.
Much like affirmative action policies in admissions are a misguided attempt by colleges and universities to “right the wrongs of the past”, the disturbing data on financial aid packages seem to indicate a less noble force at work: greed. Since colleges and universities are only allotted a certain amount of aid to give away to help defray the costs of the education they’re selling, they have to choose which students get the money. What the data shows is that the poorer a minority student was, the more financial aid was offered by the college. However, the poorer the white student was, the less aid was made available by the college.
Many proponents of race-based admissions policies would argue that one of the main reasons for giving lesser qualified black and Hispanic students an advantage over their white counterparts is to try and dilute the unfair advantage that rich white students have, particularly in the case of legacy students, or students whose fathers are golf buddies with the Dean, or connected in some other way. The problem with that entire notion is that the majority of white students have no such built-in advantage, and as a result are being punished simply because they are white, and therefore assumed to be rich and connected. This theory of “white privilege” is a popular one – the problem with the theory is that it is entirely, and provably false. According to the US Census Bureau, there are more poor white people in the United States, then there are poor blacks and Hispanics combined. Roughly half of all people living below the poverty line in this country are white, so it would seem unlikely that they have been made aware of this mythical “white privilege” that is allegedly making life so much easier for them.
In the end, it is these poor whites that are discriminated against the most. If they are poor white and male, it is unlikely that there are any scholarships available to them. The fact that the colleges pile on by limiting aid to the better off white students in an effort to curry favor with those that are statistically more likely to be rich alumni in the near future, only exacerbates the issue. As covered already on the blog mindingthecampus, “The enormous disadvantage incurred by lower-class whites in comparison to non-whites and wealthier whites is…a result of the fact that, except for the very wealthiest institutions like Harvard and Princeton, private colleges and universities are reluctant to admit students who cannot afford their high tuition’s. And since they have a limited amount of money to give out for scholarship aid, they reserve this money to lure those who can be counted in their enrollment statistics as diversity-enhancing “racial minorities.” 
Poor whites are apparently given little weight as enhancers of campus diversity, while poor non-whites count twice in the diversity tally, once as racial minorities and a second time as socioeconomically deprived. Private institutions,…intentionally save their scarce financial aid dollars for students who will help them look good on their numbers of minority students. However, this cannot explain why well-qualified lower-class whites are not at least offered admission without financial aid. The mere offer of admission is costless, and at least a few among the poor whites accepted would probably be able to come up with outside scholarship aid…The ugly truth is that most colleges, especially the more competitive private ones, are fiercely concerned with their ratings by rating organizations like U.S. News & World Report. And an important part of those ratings consist of a numerical acceptance rate (the ratio of applicants received to those accepted) and a yield score (the ratio of those accepted to those who enroll). The lower the acceptance rate and the higher the yield score the more favorably colleges are looked upon. In extending admissions to well-qualified but financially strapped whites who are unlikely to enroll, a college would be driving both its acceptance rate and its yield score in the wrong direction.”
Which leads us to the root of our increasingly divided society. Despite the perception that the Republican party is the bastion of the rich, white elites – the reality is much different. There just aren’t that many rich people in the world, and FOX News dominates the ratings day in, and day out. The average viewer of Fox News, or listener to Rush Limbaugh and the other pundits of conservative radio tend to be poorer and lower-middle class whites – the same people getting the short end of the stick for years in higher education. Liberals might joke that this lack of education explains their watching of Fox News, but kidding aside – it appears to represent a manifestation of the frustrations experienced by many of these people that have never benefited from this mythical “white privilege”, yet have gone through life treated as if they have rich relatives somewhere. More recently, we can see that manifestation in groups like The Tea Party.
So what’s the solution? Whatever it is, it’s no doubt complicated, and politically untenable. It would seem a more appropriate response would be to try and close the achievement gap amongst black and Hispanic students, so that schools don’t need to discriminate against whites just to get their desired diversity ratios. Figuring out a way to accomplish that is beyond the scope of this article, but if we desire as a nation to become less divisive, and provide an equal opportunity for all, then we’d better get our best minds working on the problem soon. Unfortunately, many of them will probably never be able to get the education they need in order to contribute to the solution if they happen to be poor, white and male.
If you found the previous article informative, you should check out more in our college life section, or read some of these articles below:
- College Textbooks Search Tool
- The Next Financial Bubble – Student Loans
- The Real Cost of Tuition and How To Pay Less
- Financial Aid For Military – GI Bill and Beyond
- Scholarship Fraud on a Massive Scale
- College Review – University of Phoenix
- The College Board and Corruption in College Testing
- Bet You $100 You Can’t Get an A
- Deceptive Practices by Credit Card Companies on Campus
- 18 of the Weirdest Scholarships for College
- Bullshit Your Way to an “A”
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White priviliedge aint a myth. White people got all thye money from the backs of slaves and so its time we get something back for that. How you except black people to get ahead in this system without a education? If anything it needs ot be more done to fix the problems caused by them for what they did so i dont understand your point.
Are you seriously kidding me right now? That has to be THE most ignorant comment I think I have ever seen. You are an embarrassment to what racial equality truly means. Yes slavery happened, and yes it was a bad time and left a horrible scar on our country. However, that happened almost TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO, let it go. It happened, and theres nothing that can change that. Times have since changed and its time for members of the African American community to let the slavery excuse go.
Thank you Justin! bkjoe34 or whoever you are, don’t you think your comment was a bit racist? I mean don’t get me wrong all races of people should get scholarships, but the white people of today’s American society are being discriminated against when it comes to the availability of college scholarships! I am a 18 year old college student with a great GPA and excellent references from work and school saying that I deserve a scholarship, but when it comes down to the nitty gritty, the black, or hispanic kid will get it, due to the fact that the gov’t has to give the minority of our country a specific percentage of scholarships or they will be called racist! So don’t disrespect white people! Grow up and give people the respect they deserve! AND FOR YOUR INFORMATION MR BKJOE34 TODAY’S WHITE MEN AND WOMEN DID NOT HOLD YOUR ANCESTORS SLAVES! NOR DO WE HOLD YOU A SLAVE SO SHUT THE HELL UP! WE LEAVE IT BE…..SO SHOULD YOU!
Who's the slave now ? Me (the white guy) who works 60 hours a week to pay the bills and my taxes or the guy on the porch next door to where i work drinking the 40oz out of a bag all day collecting my tax money ?
@bkjoe -Most white people didn't gain anything from slavery, because if they did they wouldn't represent the largest group of poor people in the country. Remember, you had to be rich to own slaves, so that eliminated most people. Combined with the fact that slaves were not held in many states, less than 3% of whites owned slaves back then. Furthermore, the majority of white people in the US are descended from immigrants to this country in the last century or so, long after slavery was abolished. As a result, most estimates put the actual percentage of white people in this country descended from slave holders at around 0.7% – 1.8%.
I think the point is that poor people of all colors face problems in the class struggle, but that the system only seems to recognize the plight of the poor minorities. It would also appear from your comments that many minorities only recognize the plight of other minorities.
I've seen the same thing my whole life, but I've never had numbers to back up what I knew to be happening. Thanks for this.
I'm pretty sure they not doing affirmative action anymore so isn't this misleading? You make it sound like the only reason black people get to college is because they required to by the schools. I got into college because of my grades, plus im pretty sure if its poor white people they not as poor as people from my hood.
@MzDimples – Yes, many colleges use race-based admissions procedures in an attempt to create diversity on their campus, and increase their rankings by US News and World Report. However, there are plenty of deserving minorities that get into these schools, and perhaps the worst byproduct of these policies is the negative assumptions that those students will face throughout their careers. Rather than helping, a case could easily be made that these types of policies actually take away from the very people they are designed to be helping.
As far as the economic conditions prevalent in your neighborhood, I can't speak to them. But the numbers from the census bureau are pretty convincing. Perhaps the misconception comes from many inner-city youth only coming into contact with the white people in the suburbs, rather than the white people in the trailer parks, or in the rural areas which is where the poorest white people tend to live.
Yes, it is true Americans are being discriminated in colleges and universities. I believe it comes from the process of exhausting means and opportunities for: Group A (American Whites, Latinos, Blacks, and other race and who are vulnerable. they are people of low income, blue collar, and even some white collar, easy to disgrace, and damage their confidence. Sometimes they are people who just chose the wrong degree that only some people aloud in and some pushed out because their race is in the way that they must stick to lower ranks of degrees). However, now this is a tremendous problem because for example:
I have witnessed at Glendale Community College in Glendale Arizona, few employees are of white race in charge in most positions where a student can come to complain, and it could be a complaint on a college instructor, staff, or student. In addition, I think that most students that are going to be complaining are of Group A.
For instance, I made a complaint about a staff member at Glendale Community College in Arizona. I had to place this complaint with the Dean, Osaro Ighodaro who immediately began to yell at me, he disrespected me then told I was not important over the phone. I believe he wanted to discourage me from complaining and it worked. However, the problem got worst because Dean Osaro claimed I was impolite to him and that for that there would be punishment then he close my student account until I spoke to him, since then he has been obsessed with getting me out with any means.
I do not want to go into long details, but, just imagine or put it threw a test how much power a college Dean has with any college staff, the huge power which allows him to influence skilfully any staff member who stands to lose their job if they don‘t side with the dean.
A staff member came to me and said that if she wanted to continue enjoying working at the college she had to side with Dean Osaro Ighodaro. She said this after she had come forward to speak to Osaro for me – to explain I had done no wrong in a division of the college, this angered Osaro because he did not have the advantage to intimidate me to leave the college. After that, she began to turn her face away from me and if she did speak to me, it was in a rude manner, as other staff below did the same. I felt I had been black listed.
I think college life was not easy before I went to the dean of GCC AZ because I found myself, prior to all this, enduring racist remarks, rude treatment, and unfair test scores. However, it is a nightmare never knowing what the Dean will falsely accuse of me off. he has been stalking me their my college file tracking everybody who comes in contact with me then makes threats that if they want to continue their jobs or education they must bring any damaging news straight to his office about me. However, when someone did come to complain, the complaint failed because the Dean had taken a false report to avenge his anger toward me.
Now college for me and other Americans who have been or still are in my situation are finding college life a nightmare.
I believe Osaro is discriminating because he himself is of Group A, but with at least two major exceptions, Osaro has too much power because of the position he holds at GCC AZ and money.
I think its only fair to add, go to GCC AZ and find out what abuse takes place in a college where there are very little graduates, spent thousands and nothing in return that you can use to get a job, career, or bank loan to get a business.
Gee hear is what think will happen to some people in Group A, possibly end up homeless, abuse further, victim of crime or vice versa.
Therefore, why not save that, money intended for college instead to keep for some safety; to have some type of means of support in heavy troubled times ahead. Nothing good can come out of being black list.
I think of the thousands of dollars I have spent on college, and it is not worth it nothing has ever come out it. Right now, I feel black listed because I am along with other Americans and I want to warn parents sending their teens to college. also, adults please be careful – do not waste the time and money at this time because there is only room for some students who are “special” or that is of the near 17% college students who are picked to have special rights to confidence.
These types of “special” students are encouraged and helped much, then given a different type of testing made easy and with a small amount of college homework along with any other rewards. Keep in mind Group A has none of this “special” treatment.
Now I will say this, racism is not going away, it is now more open and expressed threw freedom of speech, but racism is hurting every American.
There is something we as American can do, and that is say enough is enough, when college money is spent there must be a return of those “special“ treatments being for every paying student, and why not. Right now this college is getting money every year so they can damage the rest of the percent not belonging the almost 17% “special” type.
Also, think when a Dean has too much power and is not of this country, get him out.
I will use my freedom of speech to say this about the dean at GCC AZ, he needs his heart ripped out and put in a blender because all the money people have spent on an education at GCC AZ, and gotten simply nothing but chaos have a high chance of suffering tremendous hard times ahead. Some will be cold and hungry, along with being victims of crime.
Therefore, I think rip out the Dean’s heart if Americans attending GCC AZ are to have some type of a chance to survive the Dean’s abuse of power.
Lastly, if people can protest for 1070 at the state capital then people need to protest the abuse, which is exhausting Group A, slowing leading this group into nothing but hard times ahead.
@david456 I am going through a mess myself and have observed these tempermental, deceptive and manipulative traits from Mr. Ighodaro. I would like you to get back to me. My e-mail address is [ALL TOGETHER - SPACING IT ALL OUT SO SPAM BOTS DONT GRAB IT] e s t e f f e n 7 –at– c o x . n e t.
Please get back to me, for i intend to get the media involved and maybe even sue the college. The more people I can get facts from, the more strenght I have to formally do something to deal with Mr. Ighodaro.
Calling all Americans lets protest for Group A to have equal rights as the 17%, lets us go to the capital or flood the college president’s office with our complaints on the abuse, which takes place at GCC AZ.
Have you spent thousands in college only to end up not even being able to get hired, but, also black listed because you belong to Group A?
When the answer is yes – you must protest, when I spend money in college and have been spending for years, but instructors keep me behind bogged with homework, so I cannot take more courses and get good grades. This leads to more semesters in college and is only exhausting my budget and time- at this there no chance that I will graduate because I am on a black list at GCC AZ. It is not comforting knowing there are more than 80% of the students just like me.
Get mad and let us protest!
This article presents such a thinly veiled and biased view towards actual historical facts. It reads like something that a white supremacist group would try to pass off as neutral rhetoric when in fact, it's chock full of oppressive tropes.
Would you care to elaborate on that by presenting some dissenting facts? Or is it just that you're uncomfortable with the truth?
The reality is, there is no reason to factor race into admissions. If our desire is to help those that are less unfortunate, then the only thing that should matter is the financial situation of the student and their family. It makes no sense to help well-off students just because they're black, and it makes no sense to not help white students in need just because they are white. Thinking like this is what causes racial animosity, so I'd love to hear why you think this is the way to move forward with race relations, or higher education for that matter.
@admin
"If our desire is to help those that are less unfortunate"
That's not the rationale behind affirmative action, or at least not the only one. See the reference to the U. of Michigan cases in the comic included in your article? Go read those cases, plenty of other justifications are offered. Not saying I agree or disagree that AA is misguided, just that this article is uses poor strawman argumentation, unsupported assumptions, and fuzzy math to try and discredit AA. Many AA proponents assume white people are privileged and rich? Really? Any thing to back that up? And the fact that most people living below the poverty line are white? Wouldn't it be more instructive to use data the reflects population percentage? This article has the "feel" of legitimacy, but it's just a superficial gloss; underneath its full of fallacy and really presents a very poor argument.
The statistics and numbers cited in the article are indisputable, despite how inconvenient they may be. You have still failed to point out one reason why admissions (and particularly, scholarships, grants, etc) should be based on race, rather than actual financial need. What solution do you propose for the majority of poor people in this country – who happen to be white, that find a fraction of the help and assistance available to them that women and minorities do? If we base these programs on merit and need, then we have a true level playing field – that's the point of the article. Any time you show favoritism to one group over another, you are no better than a racist. The only way we can progress past the racist beginnings of this country is to stop using race in every decision we make.
As an average, white male student in high school I would have to agree with the position of the article. Now I'm not saying this because I am "biased" and "racist", but because i am currently witnessing it. As I apply for colleges and scholarships it is disturbing to me to know some of my friends can receive financial aid merely for the color of their skin, their gender, or where they're from while I alone must depend on my intelligence. I am of a middle class family and I am planning on going to medical school and I can without a doubt say there is NO POSSIBLE WAY my family could pay for that, so I must depend on scholarships, grants, etc. if i wish to accomplish this goal. It doesn't seem right to me when fellow students of mine who are upper class are getting scholarships just because of their skin color. Now understand this, I believe it is wrong to show favoritism based on race regardless of whether a person be White, Black, Hispanic, Asian or of any other ethnicity. I agree current college admission policies are only inhibiting the progression of race relations in America.
Unfortunately that happens to all too many people under this current system.
I'm surprised this is news to some of these people? White males today have a more difficult time advancing their social standing than any other segment of the population. Minorities have it easy if they just try. Just try and stop whining.
It is only considered racisim if they require the black kids to work as hard white kids in academics! Could you imagine the same policies in reverse? Every black person would be SCREAMING racism. Just look at the military service academies. They admit to allowing blacks and hispanics in with lower test scores and GPA's. I know, I know, I think these policies are reverse discrimination so I must clearly be a racist (note the sarcasm). Unfortunately, we will never get rid of discrimination UNTIL we get rid of discrimination. When one group gets special treatment over another group simply due to the color of their skin it is RACISM!!!!!!
@tired i completely agree. I have a white friend with a 3.7 gpa and is the head of a pilot research program. She was turned down from all the graduate schools she applied to despite all her progress. If we are to get rid of racism we should base admission solely on qualifications and not the color of skin.
I have a black friend who’s parents are rich, he graduated with the highest honor from Columbia if I’m not mistaken very close to a perfect 4.0. He was not accepted to his preferred grad school, because every person seeking the same education all have perfect grades.
I completely agree with this article. I have gotten into some great schools based upon my merit while my black/hispanic friends have gotten in based upon race and other things of that nature. That is not a speculation, that is a fact. When im getting 0 financial aid from a private university that totals up to 77k a year, it's unfair when that same kid that had a lower GPA, less extracurriculars, and more money in his family but is black/mexican gets 110% financial aid. The college admission system is getting dominated by political correctness rather than personal merit.
I graduate engineering school in Denmark. Accurate why? Educational institutions in America have excluded by income. Ethnic heritage only when anti
segregation policies of 60's. Somewhat diveristy believe me: times haven't. Change the attitude White males believe minorities. Gotten a waiver entrance
another factor. Ignore why so many Black males. Place on waiting listing you'll
get response back. Profound nature of economic segregation of equality America! Without generalizing America demise attempting. Conform entire world
on Anglo thought such a myth. This why Europe has economic stable. Tired
one educational perceptions of thought. For those non White stop crying accept.
The exclusion what's new? But you notice cover up the bigotry. Upon enrollment
they allow whom? East Indians and Asians especially Chinese heritage. With
false credentials this never discuss in media. Why since Asia owns majority of
American foreign debt! President Obama since example of African origin citizen!
Can stop the racism in American universities? Hello, impossible what ever!
I had a much better GPA, better test scores, and more extracurriculars than my barely hispanic friends. I got denied and she got accepted. It is not fair that I worked harder than her and that I am getting discriminated against, because I am white. You can't right wrongs with wrongs. Do minorities really feel better "getting ahead" by being just as racist?