Sample Essay

A study based on qualitative survey pertaining to 30 respondents, of which 15 were from state college and 15 from the elite college provided that “Significant disparities of wealth between students at the elite college heightened awareness of class, and led to feelings of intimidation, discomfort, inadequacy, deficiency, exclusion, and powerlessness among lower income students, feelings that were less prevalent among state college students. Students at both colleges acquired new forms of cultural capital and coped with class-based discontinuities between who they were before college and who they were becoming, but these issues became heightened for the elite college students.” (Aries & Sieder, 2005) Students from lower social backgrounds usually tend to face issues pertaining to less access to resources while the upper class students are of the opinion that they have been able to live an easy life but the main disadvantage of their social standing was the limited independence provided to them.

Another study based on research conducted on a sample of college graduates who traveled from the lower social class to the middle or relatively upper middleclass depicted that in order to achieve their current social standing they had to go through “experiences of hardship as children, obstacles to advancement, resources that enabled academic pursuits, and thwarted belonging needs in academic environments and original referent group settings. Bicultural and tricultural identity development were identified as central phenomena for participants” (Nelson et al, 2006) this depicts that social class does play a major role in determining the opportunities presented to the student and the experience that is exposed to the student

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