“The least academically talented students in the upper income quartile go to college at the same rates as the most academically talented students in the lowest income quartile, and students from the lowest income quartile have been underrepresented at Brown, and other places like Brown, for much of our history.” – Jim Miller ’73, dean of admission

Brown, hamstrung by an endowment smaller than those of its peers, lags behind its competitors in financial aid offerings.

Students said they experience a tension between the desire to act middle-class and the effects their financial realities have on conversations, relationships and demographics. At an institution one student deemed an “emblem of privilege,” class disparities present a social minefield Brunonians must navigate when making friends, finding love and engaging in academic and extracurricular life.

Eighty-six percent of college first-years nationwide selected the ability to secure a better job as a “very important” factor in choosing to attend college – this compared to only 72 percent that chose gaining “a general education and appreciation of ideas” as very important, according to the 2011 Cooperative Institutional Research Program freshman survey.