Here's mine, an answer to a self-entitled friend (and a bit of a spoiled brat):
I remembered you saying that college is hard for everyone, I am providing you with research results on the subject which I’m sure will convince you that it is much harder for some than others. Those who went to private, extremely expensive universities and likely are not aware of what a struggle this is for the disadvantaged. It is not at all a “level playing field” as much as some like to think it is. The field is very steeply pitched in favor of children of the well-to-do or otherwise advantaged. Growing up in a healthy home environment adds to the advantage as you will also see.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics and the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (2012), at risk (below the poverty line), non-traditional students (older students or students with no adult benefactors), have a 13% chance of graduating from college within six years of beginning classes. The percentage was lower in 1973 but I cannot, just now, find the source for that study. The majority of these students begin at Community Colleges because of the lower cost. On the other hand, data collected by The College Board (1999) from 21 flagship public universities (See: https://trends.collegeboard.org/education-pays/figures-tables/completion-rates-family-income-and-parental-education-level) show that students who attended these more expensive schools with their family’s support, had a graduation rate from between 70% and 78%, depending on family income. The higher family income, the greater the chance of earning a degree. Even at this level, successful completion is partly dependent upon a family’s ability to support their children in college. I feel very comfortable saying that the college experience of these students may seem difficult but in truth, it is nowhere near as difficult as it is for students who, like me, work their way through. My friends whose education was a gift from their parents talk about those years as being some of the happiest, if not the happiest, years of their lives. For me, those days were some of the very worst.
Having a good family life, without traumatic events (adverse experiences) also helps. According to Metzler et. al. (2017), college students who had four or more Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) have a 7.43 % chance of obtaining a four-year degree. One of the items that goes into the ACE score is parental divorce. Others include being the victim of physical and/or psychological abuse, parental substance abuse, death of a parent, and having a parent attempt suicide. Strictly speaking, the rest do not apply to me. Scores are adjusted to correct for socio-economic factors, race, sex etc. I have an ACE score of 6 or higher, depending on how strictly you interpret the questions. High scores indicate a host of problems throughout life, low academic achievement being one of the least of these. It is also interesting that, according to the Longevity Project, a lengthy study at Stanford University (Friedman and Martin, 2011), parental divorce alone has been shown to take, on average, five years off the life expectancy of the children of divorce. (See: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/marry-divorce-reconcile/201105/connection-between-parental-divorce-and-death) .
With the combined disadvantages of being in poverty, “at risk” and having a high number of adverse childhood experiences, statistically, a person in my position at age 19 had a (13% X .074) = 0.96 % chance of graduating from college. That puts me roughly in the 99th percentile for achievement in the face of adversity or performance under duress. If you add in the students who, faced with such a daunting task, never begin classes, it is even more remarkable that I earned any kind of a degree at all.
So I ask you which is harder; to compete in a contest where three out of four participants share in the prize, or where only one in a hundred will cross the finish line? You decide. I’d pick the former.
