Barriers Endure

Regardless of the success in the area of gender equality, the fight for equity in higher education still has a long way to go. Issues like race and economic class are still detrimental for students seeking a college education all around the country.

The racial inequalities in universities are shown in a 2015 report by the Brookings Institute which reported that nearly half of white women ages 25-35 had completed four years of college while only 24 percent of Black women had. In addition, Black women with degrees are also less likely to accumulate the same levels of wealth later in life as their white female counterparts.

Race and class still serve as instruments of inequality that, through multiple institutions, including universities, ensure that the current social order stays the same. Equality in one area isn’t enough if it doesn’t help other areas of structural inequality as well. There is the risk of creating the illusion that enough progress has been made because of growth in one area, and those that aren’t helped could be left behind.

At the University of Iowa between 2012 and 2014, first-year African American students had a 17 percent dropout rate, while white first year students dropped out at a 3-percent lower rate. As well on a national level white students graduated at a 17 percent higher rate than African American students and 13 percent higher than Hispanic students.

Race isn’t the only factor that correlates with higher dropout rates. Socioeconomic status also serves as one of the most important indicators of ability to go to college as well as succeed there.

According to Tucker, about 85 percent of enrolled students receive some form of financial aid, and in 2016 the college was ranked #1 for economic diversity among liberal arts schools in the United States, which is something that has resonated with students.

“The biggest thing that drew me to Grinnell, other than being good academically, was the socioeconomic diversity,” said Esme Rummelhart ‘17, who is now a sophomore at Grinnell. “You get these kids who are from all over the board, but they all end up in this place, which makes a cool environment.”

The University of Iowa report found that students who received a Pell Grant had a 64-percent six-year graduation rate, while students who received no federal loans had a 76-percent graduation rate. These structural issues can even hurt students in the Iowa City Community School District as they pursue a college education.

One such case is Jade Merriwether, a genderqueer student who went to West High. Merriwether is in their second year of college studying Culture and Media Studies, with a minor in Urban Studies at The New School in Manhattan. 

Growing up in a college-educated family, Merriwether never doubted that they would one day walk the grounds of a college campus, but this assuredness came not without its challenges.

“I was kind of following in the footsteps of my mother and my grandmother,” said Merriwether. “The logic that they used was, ‘You know it’s already hard for us. You know as Black women you’ve got to work a little harder in academic spaces, so you might as well put that foot forward and do what you can right now.’ They just wanted me to have the best options available to me.”

Merriwether’s college search eventually landed them at The New School, which boasts such alumni as Lorraine Hansberry, author of “A Raisin in the Sun.” It has a student body that is 74 percent female and describes itself as “progressive,” with ideas like challenging convention and analyzing power through creative thought being impwortant ideas that the college espouses.

“I really wanted to be a part of a school that prioritized thinking about the systems at play that are set up against marginalized groups, and also be inside of a larger culture of New York City where I could explore those systems and actually live what I am learning in class,” Merriwether said.