In yesterday’s column, David Brooks writes:

As Ross Douthat notes in The Atlantic Monthly, a child growing up in a family earning over $90,000 has a 1 in 2 chance of getting a college degree by age 24; a child in a family earning $35,000 to $61,000 has a 1 in 10 chance; a child in a family earning under $35,000 has a 1 in 17 chance.

The problem isn’t the lack of student aid for poor students. Brooks says the problem lies elsewhere.

1. Inadequate high school education.
2. Poor understanding about the necessary steps to get to college, ie. SAT procedures.
3. Fear of the economic risk that is involved in with forgoing years of work and accuing major loans.
4. The lack of social confidence to blend in with the rich kids at school.

All these factors lead to an imbalance of cultural capital that prevents class mobility and frustrates those with ability from rising above their situation.

Do you agree with Brooks? Would you add any other factors? What solutions do you see to this problem?