Ashley Yong Source 5

How does socioeconomic affirmative action differ from race-based affirmative action.

Reardon, Sean, et al. "Simulation Models Of The Effects Of Race- And Socioeconomic-Based Affirmative Action Policies On Elite College Enrollment Patterns." Society For Research On Educational Effectiveness (2014): ERIC. Web. 9 Mar. 2016.

This study research through simulation models to analyze how race and class play a part in the college admission process and takes into account a number of variables not commonly evaluated like "uncertainty over college or student quality, learning over time, and strategic application submission." The simulations found three major things: (1) unless SES-based affirmative action policies use a very large bump, these policies are unlikely to result in the same racial composition in colleges as under current race-based affirmative action policies; (2) socioeconomic affirmative action results in a moderate-to-substantial reduction in the average resources of students enrolled at elite colleges, and are thus effective at increasing socioeconomic diversity; and (3) information plays a large, and perhaps previously unrecognized, role in the sorting of minority students into colleges; the application behavior of students responded much more effectively to affirmative action policies when those policies were made explicit to students."

After Source 4, I became very skeptical of race-neutral alternatives to traditional affirmative action. But, after Source 5, increasing socioeconomic diversity seems like a viable option. It also made me wonder about the transparency of affirmative action policies of universities across the nation. And if they keep it hush-hush, why? Affirmative action, I believe, is something higher education should be proud of. Is keeping their policies under wraps a result of illegal activity or questionably immoral activity? The study looks at affirmative action in a way I never considered: as something universities can openly disclose to their applicants. I agree that universities need to be more transparent with their policies, especially after reading the positive implications it has for students' application behavior. I agree with the article in saying socioeconomic differences is something we need to look at over race. '

This agrees with both Source 2 and 4 in providing alternatives to race-based affirmative action. Source 4 says it doesn't work but this source provides concrete data and says it does. I tend to agree more with this source because intuitively, providing opportunities for those socioeconomically disadvantaged, not just by race, is the best. Looking just at race can result in people, like Obamas daughter, getting undue benefits because of their race.

This has now led me to ask, in what other ways can we use socioeconomic status as a factor in the college admissions process? Can it be implemented in both admissions and financial aid-and is that fair? I will explore this and more in my next source-which I know will be a book.