nation

this is news?! this is the designed intention of low taxes on income and capital gains for the wealthy, seperation. seperationm leads to a less educated, less expensive and interchangable work force. and here we are...

The so called top colleges are really just institutions that are better at PR. There is very little difference in the educational quality for most schools for those that take their time in college seriously. It's really up to the individual to learn their craft. It is the internal spark that gives the top achievers their edge, not the particular institution they attend. Unless perhaps you just want to fake ability and use a prestigious name to get yours.

The American Dream is a Myth. We've all heard success stories - people who have gone from bottom to top - but statistics don't support this being a common occurrence, and in fact it's actually quite rare. Those who DO make it to the upper crust, 99.999% of the time do it because they come from families with well above average incomes. Most of us were born to be slaves in the world economic machine with little opportunity to get out. In spite of what the caring, smiling elite say to the contrary, this is by design. Current statistics tell us that 95% of retirees today are retiring with a zero or negative net worth. Some of the peasants get lucky. Most do not.

I think I need an umbrella to protect me from the dark rain clouds in the posts above. My son rejected Harvard last spring to attend Princeton. We live in a community of 4,000 people in the middle of nowhere and our adjusted gross income last year was below $30K. The elite schools have a desire to change the world one student at a time. If you come from the projects and attend an elite, you will then have the ability (some would say duty) to lend a hand and give hope to the community you left four years prior. And by the way, you will attend for free, guaranteed! One piece of advice, quit spending money on silly things when raising a family and spend money on books and travel. You're the adult, light the spark!

College is what you put into it and the cream will rise to the top. We put too much emphasis on where you went and not enough on who you are.

brotherkenny, You confuse education quality with the ties and connections brought to the table by graduating from a Stanford or an Ivy League school. You are probably correct about educational quality. Quality education can be found all over the place, but not elite connections.

The elite schools really only matter if you are trying to go into politics and investment business, where contacts can open doors. For more practical majors like engineering, science, accounting, any decent school will provide a motivated student a good education that leads to a good job. The other part that this report misses is that most elite schools are in expensive areas, the college experience gets pretty tough for a poor kid who can never afford to leave his dorm.

Why should anyone have the right to elite connections?

I guess that I don't get it. When I was in high school, as early as my sophomore year, I started researching potential colleges in anticipation of making my final choices about where to apply. By the time I needed to make my applications, I had narrowed the choices down to 5 - 2 were clearly colleges I could afford, but 3 were way out of reach unless I received significant financial aid. I applied to all 5 and was accepted by 4. My parents were in the lower middle income bracket. I don't see what's the problem. I didn't make my plan, based on my high school counselor's input or recommendation. In fact, I didn't ask my counselor for any help in this process. I just took the initiative to figure it out myself. And my parents didn't try to steer my choices, either. If kids are really smart and excel in high school, they should be able to figure this out on their own and not need a bunch of handholding.

If you're an average student with connections and wealthy family you will more than likely get into the "elite" school. George W. Bush, for example. Why? Simple. Because SOMEBODY has to pay the full ride to these outrageously expensive institutions to underwrite the rest! And there's the rub. The best and the brightest are represented fairly equally among ALL socioeconomic classes. But elitism pays the bills for the Ivys.