What’s it like to try and live at Stanford University on $5 a day when other of your classmates are legacy kids from some of the wealthiest families in America?

An article in Monday’s San Francisco Chronicle told the story of Jason Scott who did just this. He’s from a low-income family and qualifies for financial aid - paying just $2,500 a year to attend the $50,000 a year institution. But this is a big chunk of change for a family that lives on just $19,000. So there’s no money left over for the usual student fun stuff.

In fact, at the end of freshman year he had to survive on $50 for two weeks before his pay-check from an on-campus job arrived. During this time “he lived in his Jeep parked around Stanford’s grassy Oval, with its grand view of the campus’ sandstone arcades. He showered in the gym. He ate peanut butter sandwiches.”

Scott says that his frugal lifestyle is an issue he’s learned to deal with at Stanford. But it’s a far more serious issue before he ever got to college:

As much as money matters, Scott said, it matters most before students ever try to enroll. Kids who grow up with money attend good high schools. They understand the importance of mastering the violin or excelling at soccer. They have SAT preparation and sometimes professional college application consultants. Those advantages help smooth the way at the most prestigious of the West Coast’s major private universities.

“We struggled to get there and once we got there, it was a culture shock,” said one of Scott’s friends, Tanya Koshy, a recent Stanford graduate. “Once you get over the initial shock and accept the fact that you’re different and come from a different background, you can propel yourself forward and nothing can hold you back.”
Stanford University officials have said they want more economic diversity. And yet one measure of that - Pell Grant numbers - has remained steady at around 12% Stanford vs. 31% of the student body across the Bay at UC Berkeley.

Students like Jason Scott are to be congratulated on overcoming the odds and sticking with what is obviously a challenging situation for the four years they mingle with the sons and daughters of America’s wealthy elite.

It’s obvious from the statistics that family income level plays a huge part in the college admissions process. When the admission ticket to private education is nudging a quarter of a million for four years this is inevitable. Meanwhile, there’s strategies available to help level the playing field. Find out all you can about financial aid packages. Don’t take no for an answer and learn to love PNB sandwiches if that’s what it takes.