Politico has a really interesting piece today about the increasingly wealthy University of Michigan student body, what that means in practical terms when it comes to economics and politics in the state, and what University leaders are doing to reverse the trend, and increase economic diversity on campus. And, interestingly, they’ve decided to tell the story from the vantage point of Ypsilanti, a “working-class city just seven miles from the university’s campus in Ann Arbor,” where, they argue, “(graduating high school) students would, in theory, benefit greatly from the opportunities that open up to Michigan graduates.” [Ypsilanti Community Schools Superintendent Ben Edmondson, who was interviewed for the report, told Politico that he’s only aware of one Ypsi High student, out of the 400 that have graduated over the past two years, that has gone on to attend the University of Michigan.]
For what it’s worth, the report isn’t a straight-up “hit” piece on U-M. [They didn’t even bring up the name Jake Croman.] The author not only acknowledges that, to some extent, the University’s pursuit of more affluent students was necessitated by the fact that state support for higher education has dropped approximately 30% since 2002, but notes that the University has, at least in recent years, been doing more to attract and prepare non-affluent, in-state students though programs like HAIL: High Achieving Involved Leader (a new scholarship program aimed at high-achieving, low-income, in-state students), the Go Blue Guarantee (a promise of free tuition for admitted in-state students whose families make less than $65,000 a year), and Wolverine Pathways (a free, intensive, year-round college preparedness and free tuition program offered in the communities of Detroit, Southfield, and Ypsilanti). As Politico also suggests, this isn’t a situation unique to the University of Michigan, as a number of the so-called “public ivies” are facing the same reality due to a confluence of factors. Not only, for example, are non-wealthy kids less prepared for college, due in large part to the increasing resegregation of American public education, but, perhaps for the first time since World War II, working-class high school graduates aren’t seeing higher education as something worth striving for, as a degree no longer carries with it the guarantee of a stable career and a middle class life.
As for why Politico chose to focus on the University of Michigan, when there are other schools facing the very same issues, I suspect it comes down to two things. First, the presence of Ypsilanti, just seven miles away, offered a compelling foil. And, second, James Angell, the University’s longest-serving president (1871–1909), actually put down in writing that the University of Michigan existed in order to ensure that this relatively new nation of ours not establish an aristocracy… Here’s a clip from the Politico piece.
The University of Michigan’s most legendary president coined what’s become an unofficial mission statement for one of the nation’s first public universities: to provide “an uncommon education for the common man.”
Michigan, he declared, would be an antidote to aristocracy.
“Have an aristocracy of birth if you will or of riches if you wish, but give our plain boys from the log cabins a chance to develop their minds with the best learning and we fear nothing from your aristocracy,” that president, James Angell, said in 1879. “In the fierce competitions of life something besides blue blood or inherited wealth is needed to compete with the brains and character from the cabins.”
Angell’s words are still a part of life at the Ann Arbor campus these days, but the spirit is missing: Today’s University of Michigan includes more than its share of blue bloods and people with inherited wealth. Like many other flagship state universities that were founded to provide a leg up for the common man, Michigan has become a school largely for students with means. A full 10 percent of its student body comes from families in the top 1 percent of earners, according to data from the Equality of Opportunity Project. Just 16 percent come from families in the bottom 60 percent of earners combined. The median income of parents of students at the university is $156,000, roughly three times the median income of Michigan families…
I won’t go too much deeper into it here, as I think you should really just follow the link at the top of the post and read the article. I really do hope, however, that, after reading it, you’ll come back and join us in a conversation about the role U-M plays in regional economic segregation, and these recent efforts on the part of the University to steer things back in the direction of James Angell’s “common man.”
Oh, and if you don’t have any interest in education policy, you should still check out the article, as there are some good photos of Ypsi, like this one. [The photos approach ruin porn territory, but, thankfully, never fully commit.]
For what it’s worth, I’m not sure what the answer is… Clearly, on one hand, we need to fight for public education, and demand that our children, regardless of where they live in Michigan, are properly educated. And that’s a big part of this problem. We just aren’t turning out non-wealthy high school graduates that are prepared for the University of Michigan… As we’ve discussed here several times in the past, not all school districts are equal, and the system is rigged against those without either the financial means, or the family support, to successfully navigate an extremely complicated landscape, where neighborhood schools have given way to schools-of-choice and an ever-changing lineup of unregulated for-profit charters. Sure, Ann Arbor schools, which are better funded, open up slots, as more wealthy parents in their district opt for private schools, but how many kids in Ypsi, especially kids from poor families, can make the trip to and from Ann Arbor each day? And what happens here, in our public school district, which is saddled not only with debt, but with the costs associated with educating those students with special needs, who aren’t wanted by the wealthier surrounding districts? The result, as we’ve seen, is consolidation and collapse. [I believe Ypsi has closed six schools over the past ten years.] Sure, we have examples of success and growth, like we just saw with the opening of the Ypsilanti International Elementary School, which is really thriving, but the bottom line is, even with these offers of free tuition, we’re not turning out kids that are prepared to do well on the SATs, or succeed at U-M, and that needs to change. [Wolverine Pathways is a great first step toward filling the gap, but there needs to be more.] As a state, we need to invest more in education, especially in communities where kids struggle with the effects of poverty.
As for how to slow the rising cost of higher education, I’m a little less clear… All I know is, we’re moving in a direction that isn’t good for the long term health of our democracy, with access to quality college education moving beyond the grasp of our shrinking middle class. And, if we don’t solve the problem soon, we’re going to create a permanent aristocracy in the United States like the one James Angell cautioned against. [This, by the way, is a huge reason to retain the inheritance tax, which, if anything, should be increased, not eradicated as the Republicans are now suggesting.] So, I am extremely thankful that the University of Michigan is making efforts to reverse this trend, launching programs like the ones noted above, and paying the tuition of those students who need assistance. [As Politico notes in the story, the University already spends in excess of $170 million each year on need-based aid for undergraduate students.] The question is, is it enough?
33 Comments
Hasn’t it always been like this?
I remember when I came to the U in the early nineties being blown away by all the prep school kids from out east with their Aspen ski trips and trust funds. Indeed it was a lot of those people staying in Ann Arbor and buying houses that made it what it is today.
I wonder if the idea of the U for the common man was always just PR?
I can’t believe that only 1 student from Ypsi has gone to U of M over the past several years. It’s criminal.
I know of at least one Ypsi kid who started at UM last year, but she didn’t enter from a YCS school, but from WIHI. And I suspect she was not alone. I believe Dr. Edmondson must have been talking specifically about YCS students, leaving Ypsi High and going to UM.
“And what happens here, in our public school district, which is saddled not only with debt, but with the costs associated with educating those students with special needs, **who aren’t wanted by the wealthier surrounding districts**? ”
Can you explain the last part of that sentence. I know several kids with 504 plans who have used school of choice to head to Ann Arbor, because of the additional resources there. I also know a few people who qualify for public assistance (1.5 x poverty line), who have used school of choice to attend in Ann Arbor. There are buses, parents work in A2 etc.
Beyond disciplinary issues and available space, I’m not aware of a constraints on transfers.
All that said, last year only 69 AAPS school of choice students (our of 445 total) are coming from anywhere inside the county. (my source is a pdf, happy to send it along)
I personally think the entire county should be consolidated. But, whatever, Ypsi public school’s burdens, blaming the results on Ann Arbor seems overstated. Blaming everything Ypsi on A2 seems like habit by now.
I know of two students from Whitmore Lake schools who are attending U-M this year, and they are comparable in funding and financial burden to Ypsi. And I hardly know anyone here… I would seek out U-M enrollment data from someone other than Edmonson. Is he setting up the systems, counsellors etc to let all high performing kids know they can go to UM?
Also, in my experience, U-M was financially accessible to the very poor via need-based aid, but not to the middle class. This program was set up to provide them with access to the school, and, let’s face it, to diversify the school, by the means allowed to them now.
My belief is that Ypsi’s problems start in Lansing. And to some degree in it’s constant pitting of itself against A2. I don’t hear people here belittling Ypsi anymore. You have, in fact, gentrified yourselves out of that complaint. So who will you blame now? It could be that Ypsi’s own toxic culture of proud marginalization (assumed mostly by those who aren’t marginalized) and in-fighting is its biggest burden.
Maybe “special needs” was the wrong phrase, as perhaps that just implies students with disabilities. Generally speaking, though, I think it’s safe to say that more costly students are encouraged to stay in their home districts. For instance, there’s a rule in the school of choice law that says “A district may refuse to enroll an applicant who has been suspended within the preceding two years or who has ever been expelled.” As for students with disabilities, it’s a little less clear, as it involves arrangements between districts. The following comes from the school of choice legislation.
(https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/Revised__Schools_of_Choice_Definitions_272415_7.pdf)
A district may not refuse enrollment to a student eligible for special education programs and services, unless the application is under Section 105c and there is no written agreement with the district of residence. Special education programs and services are not considered “special programs” under Section 105 or 105c.
If the student resides in a contiguous intermediate school district and is enrolled under Section 105c, the enrolling district and district of residence must have a written agreement regarding the payment of added costs of special education programs and services. It is recommended that written agreements regarding the payment of added costs of special education programs and services are specific to the individual student. The written agreement shall address how the agreement shall be amended in the event of significant changes in the costs or level of special education programs or services required by the pupil. If a student enrolled under Section 105c becomes eligible for special education services following enrollment, the enrolling district and the resident district must have a written agreement in order for the enrolling district to continue to count the student in membership.
I know UM has to be careful, given where their funding comes from, but I’d love to see them take more of a stand on public education and really get involved in the fight.
Not everyone wants to go to the UM
What qualifies as a “student from ypsi?”
The UM gives preferential treatme t to kids from poor backgrounds…they just dont apply. The AFrican and Afroamerican Studies department is practically begging people to come. Graduate programs will fall over themvselves to get african american students …. but they dont apply. Not to say that all black people are poor but….
Im sure the u can do more but it already does a lot to its credit.
I did three degrees at UM.
The trailer park was a huge asset.
Of course, now i am unemployed, penniless and homeless.
As someone who was raised as an Ann Arbor townie of middling means, the U of M presented as both something to aspire to and as something that was “obnoxious” and weirdly distant.
You couldn’t help but add the Jake Croman tag, could you?
Even if Ypsi residents account for all 69 in-county school of choice transfers to A2 schools, it’s hard to argue that part of the issue is worthy of the attention you give it. It fits your narrative of exclusion. And I think that narrative is a big part of the reason why people don’t consider U-M. Culturally it’s different for sure, but it’s different for suburban kids too. College is supposed to be culturally different. Tell people they won’t fit in and aren’t really wanted, and they wont even try. I hope UM admissions engages Edmondson. Meanwhile, we need better college career counseling for marginalized youth. They should know what is available to them, that they can negotiate tuition costs as straight tuition discounts once admitted and that they should not let some depressed bureaucrat tell them what they can and can not do and where they will or will not fit in.
People dont apply to UM because 1) they think they cant get in 2) they think they cant pay for it and 3) their friends dont go there/they wont fit in.
There is no policy of exclusion against people from ypsi schools. However, The victimhood narrative is important to some ypsi residents
The idea that people are looking for colleges that have a familiar social and cultural environment is depressing to me.
My daughter says college now is like really expensive summer camp for the privileged. She wanted no part of it until she had a solid reason to go. I’m starting to get her point.
This all seems to be more of the self-segregation happening in America. Just like we spread our own propaganda now, democratically choose a president inclined to the totalitarian, and pay lots of money to walk around advertising brands on our clothing. This stuff isn’t imposed on us. We are choosing it. We are self-selecting a system of oppression. Even the oppressed are rejecting the available paths to power and inclusion. Everybody is pointing blame in the other direction. And yeah, sometimes that’s super justified, but total rejection of the available means to mobility and improvement within the system is stupid. Assuming a path that is available is not available for you is self-limiting.
(I know this seems to contradict me being ok with my kid not going to college, but it wasn’t going to work for her, and maybe someday it will. )
One thing the UM could do to encourage more applications from people in places like Ypsilanti would be to waive application fees for people in areas they target. Because Iron Lung is right. One big reason people don’t apply is that they think they can’t in but if the application fees are waived, people who think they can’t get in would be more likely to apply.
I keep thinking of my brother when he was applying for grad school. Georgetown had the best and most recognized program in the field he was interested in. It was absolutely the most prestigious and sought after. He applied to a dozen similar programs around the country and decided at the last minute to submit an application to Georgetown too even though he was certain he wasn’t going to be accepted. Turns out every single other program did not accept him and the one that did was Georgetown. You just never know what factors college admissions folks will consider. It always pays to apply but those application fees can be a real barrier and for those of limited means.
Yes, the application fee is a huge hurdle. Why spend $200 applying for a school you don’t think you’ll get into?
“The idea that people are looking for colleges that have a familiar social and cultural environment is depressing to me.”
Why? A lot of African Americans go to HBCs because they feel comfortable there and there’s nothing wrong with that.
When I was an undergrad, it was terrible to be a black undergrad. Every time there was a party for them, the campus police would show up and it would be in the newspaper. Not a welcoming place. Perhaps things are better now.
The University of Michigan still has relatively high academic standards, unlike most state schools which have lowered their standards to abysmal levels. One reason U of M does not get students from YCS could be that those who meet U of M’s academic standards can get scholarships at almost any other institution.
The real problem is the decline of our educational system. Since “No child left behind” was implemented we have stopped teaching our children critical thinking skills. They are taught to the test. Current college students are entirely the product of the educational policies established under Bush and only modified slightly under Obama. The paucity of students meeting high academic standards seems to demonstrate that these so called reforms are failures.
Perhaps the fact that we have spent 5.6 trillion dollars since 2001 on our wars against “terrorism” and have had to impose austerity in everything, including education, has some bearing.
I was speaking more to the impulse to self-segregation. I acknowledge that tendency makes more sense for minority students, already experiencing other forms of exclusion. In fact, being in a space where they are not being actively marginalized daily may represent a culture shift for them. The self-segregation in both directions is, however, a loss for U-M. I’m glad they are trying to address it. Black enrollment at U-M is now about half (as a percentage) of what it was when I attended in the mid-late 80’s– 4.7% v 9%.
I had black friends at U-M across a spectrum of backgrounds. None felt entirely welcome, but much of their complaint was lodged at other black students, usually relatively wealthy and very conformist. Maybe they just expected more from them. Don’t know about parties, but that sounds very likely from campus security and local police. Still, they understood the opportunity U-M presented them. And HBC’s are not cheap relative to U-M in state.
UM has college readiness programs for students from under-performing schools. I was over educated when I attended U-M, testing out of most of the required freshman courses, but my fellow students caught up and surpassed me quickly. I don’t think lesser schooling or even under performance in high school is necessarily a barrier to success. A lot of U-M profs I know went to community colleges before moving on to 4 year schools. They’re doing ok. But they also never let anyone tell them they couldn’t do it, because of x, y, z factors. WCC is actually a great way to transfer into UM, and you save a lot of money by going there for two years. In the ned, it’s the same degree as everyone else. These pathways need to be amplified to Ypsi students. And for sure U-M has to do more to make minority students feel more welcome. I think this latest step is hopeful. I’m annoyed that Edmonson would sell his students short on the opportunity.
I do know that every area of personal growth and excelerrated learning that I have experienced has derived from placing myself in uncomfortable/unfamiliar settings.
So it seems the quote cherry picked for the article is misrepresenting Edmonson’s point of view. The article seems very keen to paint Ypsi in a particularly desperate light. Others have pointed out that it ignores the issue of race, and paints the issue (and Ypsi) as white working class v fancy U-M. From an MLive piece on the program:
“Ypsilanti Community Schools Superintendent Benjamin Edmondson hopes the Go Blue Guarantee will be an incentive for students to raise their expectations and pursue a UM education. He plans to emphasize the opportunity with incoming YCS freshmen.
“What was once impossible is now possible through some visioning by the University of Michigan,” Edmondson said. “You can certainly say to kids an opportunity has presented itself that was not available before.””
http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2017/06/um_free_tuition_offer_makes_im.html
I also learned that what was available recently was a package of aid, work study etc. for students from lower income families. When I attended there were straight scholarships. Of course affirmative action was still in place then too.
I hope this program helps.
College costs are rising because there is money to be had without risk. Make student loans dischargable in bankruptcy. When this debt bubble pops it’ll be far worse than the housing bubble. There is no chance of reset for the debtors aside from death.
I haven’t read the article yet, but I’ll need to for sure. But there looks to be a whole lot of cherry picking going on there. All the best data suggests that across the board, students make choices about where to college based first on the (perceived) quality of the school, the (perceived) history of the school’s graduates to get good jobs, the social life of the school, and then, in fourth place, cost. It’s easy enough to find outliers to this, but in broad national trends, this is what the data says. Yes, at EMU, we have a lot of students who picked it because of some local/cultural connection and because of costs. But if you dig a little deeper with these students, you’ll also discover that many of these students would have gone to UM if they had been accepted.
The other thing is I do think the photos cross over to ruin porn. It’s just as easy to take some pictures of vacant buildings/sketchy areas in Ann Arbor as it is in Ypsi– though I will grant you there are fewer examples. Plus they have zero pictures of EMU’s campus. I don’t know if I’m going to have time to blog about/think about this article or not, but I did actually think that I might spend a little time trying to put together a different set of photo comparisons.
Yeah, I mentioned Croman. Too far? Maybe. But I think, rightly or wrongly, it gets to the common perception of what the modern, wealthy, entitled U-M student is like. Just be thankful I didn’t title the piece “Croman to Common Man: U-M Attempts To Get Less Douchey.”
The truth is, there are a lot of great young people on campus. Unfortunately, however, at lot of folks are getting the sense that things have been changing for the worse for a while now. At least that’s the sense I get talking with my friends who teach undergrads.
And I’m encouraged by what the U has started doing to right the ship. I just hope it’s enough.
As for my comment about them not fully committing to the ruin porn aesthetic, I guess it’s just because I see Ypsi every day, and spend a lot of time thinking about we’re portrayed in the media, but I do think they showed some restraint here. Instead of shooting the Dreamland Theater, for instance, they could just as easily have turned around and shot the people congregating across the street, beneath the Deja Vu’s “Tit or Treat” sign, or gone down Michigan Ave to shoot people lined up at the plasma center. It’s easy to go that way with an article, if that’s what you’re looking to do. And I can tell by the choices that they made, that there was a conscious effort not to go too far. True, they showed our one boarded up downtown storefront, but they also showed the mural. But, yeah, they did have an agenda. They used the dreary filter and shot pictures to reinforce their point. But my point was that they showed some restraint. As we all know, there are worse things they could have shown.
I didn’t mention it in the post, but this kind of thing certainly doesn’t help.
http://markmaynard.com/2017/09/as-dreamers-anticipate-a-deportation-declaration-from-the-trump-administration-anti-immigrant-graffiti-appears-in-ann-arbor/
Mark, two other thoughts in relation to your comments here: True, there was a bit of restraint in the ruin porn thing, but just a bit. Instead of showing the Dreamland theater storefront, they also could have turned the camera a slightly different angle (and maybe walked a few steps) and shot the storefront of Beezy’s, which probably would have featured restaurant full of a diverse group of people. There’s plenty of boarded-up spaces they could have photographed on University Ave near UM’s campus. And so forth.
IMO, they were trying to imply that Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti are so different that their might as well be a wall between the two places. Granted, there are plenty of people in Ann Arbor who have no reason to come to Ypsi and/or who are “scared” of it, and there are also plenty of Ypsi folks who hate the snobbiness of Ann Arbor, etc. But for the almost 20 years I’ve lived here (all with an Ypsi or Ypsi Township address too), it’s more like splitting hairs of different neighborhoods.
Second, about “the kids today:” I’ve been teaching at the college level for going on 30 years now (God I’m old), and I’m here to tell you that college students now are just as smart or dumb as they were back then. Two differences, I guess. When I started teaching college as a graduate assistant in the late 1980s and required that students hand in essays that were typed (either on a typewriter or with one of these new-fangled personal computer machines), I had a lot of students who complained that they didn’t know how to type. I don’t get that now. But one of the downsides of today’s students is they all went to K-12 schooling in the age of “No Child Left Behind,” and they are so used to everything being measured by some kind of test or scale or rubric that they get frustrated when that isn’t part of the evaluation or the grade. Nowadays, I get questions like “How many points did you take off for your comment about this paragraph?” or “How am I suppose to know how to complete this writing assignment where you are asking me what I think about the reading if you don’t provide a checklist rubric?”
By the way, Jake Croman’s dad, NYC landlord Steve Croman, is now serving time for bank and mortgage fraud. Civil charges, for harassing tenants, are still pending: http://www.cromantenants.org/
Thanks for the Croman update, Doug. It’s much appreciated.
As for the ruin porn stuff, Steven, I’m not disagreeing that they chose photos to help make their point. They clear did. What I’m saying is that they could have done far worse. As for how professors see their kids these days, I wasn’t trying to suggest that underclassmen these days aren’t smart. I was trying to say that, if you talk with UM professors, at least the ones I know, they will tell you that there’s been a noticeable change in attitude over the past decade or so. I won’t talk for them, but I’ve heard plenty of stories about entitled kids from wealthy families.
I suppose the dispositions of the “kids today” is relative in a couple of different ways. It’s pretty easy to find quotes about how terrible the youth is, quotes from the ancient Greeks and quotes from American educators from about 100 years ago. I went to college with lots of super entitled kids in the early 1980s. Conversely, my son, who is a student at U of M, knows plenty of students who seem to come from less affluent backgrounds– not necessarily “working poor,” but not necessarily rich kids, if that makes sense.
It’s probably relative to the university and the professor. Cost is not the main reason why students go to a particular school, but it is certainly a factor. Schools that cost more presumably attract more “rich kids.” I’m sure the situation is worse at the Sara Lawrence College-type places. At EMU, I don’t have a lot of rich kid students.
I can understand how a student paying more money to go to Michigan than to Princeton might feel that they deserve something more extraordinary than usual. At the same time, the sense of financial propriety that you and I might think prudent just goes out the window once the numbers get too large to relate to. Imagine that you are going to graduate with $200,000 in debt. In that context, whether you buy a $1000 Canada Goose parka or not is irrelevant to your future. So why not get it? All your peers have one. It’s not so different motivationally than buying filet with an EBT card, just with different level of resignation.
I’m not sure what the numbers are now, but more than half of my class at Huron went to U-M in the late 1990’s, something on the order of 229/423 students. I got in, but went someplace else because of the career I wanted to pursue, and because I didn’t want to be around the same people I’d been around for 4 years. It cost 12k for in state tuition compared to EMU which was 3K.
I’m giving these stats because I think those numbers have changed for Ann Arbor students too. That generally there are less in-state admissions. Back in the 1990’s, I know of at least 5 people whom I knew at YHS who went to U-M from the same year I graduated Huron.
I also don’t expect the U of M to be able to make substantial impact in its student base if the problem with the applicant pool starts far earlier in life.
https://www.wired.com/story/free-money-the-surprising-effects-of-a-basic-income-supplied-by-government/?google_editors_picks=true