More low-income students are attending college, but they’re still playing catch-up on their wealthier peers
“These days, you’re more likely to encounter a student at or near poverty on one of the nation’s college campuses than you were two decades ago. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean access to higher education is equal.The share of dependent college students — typically an undergraduate coming to college from their parents’ home — at or near the poverty level in 2016 was 39%, up from 29%, according to an analysis of government data released this week by the Pew Research Center. Aside from an uptick during the Great Recession, the official poverty rate for adults was similar in 2016 and 1996, Pew added.”