Professor Fleming purposefully kept the research prompt vague so that students had the power to explore whatever interested them. From the initial proposals to the final presentations, it was obvious that students were taking what they learned in the course and applying it to their passions. On the last day of class, we jokingly talked about Colby’s Dare Northward campaign, and we related it to the presentations. To take it a step future, I’m going to include the discussions I had with the students who viewed my poster about how the campaign will affect the topic of my research. 

For my project, my research question was, “Do low-income students in scholarship groups have a better experience than low-income students who aren’t?” Though my sample size was small, I was able to find some startling patterns in the data. Compared to students in scholarship groups, students without scholarship groups work more, socialize less, have less low-income friends, and reach out for academic help more frequently. As a student in a scholarship group, I can say that being a scholarship group gives you the confidence and fellowship needed to make a space for yourself at an institution that was not made for you. Colby is specifically structured to accommodate upper-middle class, white, students who live 20 minutes outside of Boston who can afford to drink and party and destroy whatever they touch. It is not a secret that elite institutions accept low-income students to increase their diversity and better their rankings. How can Colby become an institution better suited for all the low-income students they accept?

I asked the students who approached my poster at the Celebration of Research this question. More funds for more resources was a common response. Where could those funds come from? The night of the research exposition was also the night that Colby paid to light up the Empire State Building blue to advertise the Dare Northward campaign. Colby is trying to raise $750 million to “enhance the Colby experience.” The money is supposed to be sprinkled across all of Colby’s ventures, but most students I spoke with didn’t really understand what the campaign is for.

How could $750 million change the Colby experience? Many students brought up that with that money, Colby could afford to increase financial aid so each student can feel comfortable with their financial aid package. Students wouldn’t have to worry about working to pay for tuition, and they could instead spend that money on textbooks (which arguably should be covered by the school) and travel home. One student suggested that part of the money could go toward renovating the Pugh Center to include a room for low-income students and an auditorium for events to educate the student body about its diverse population. Other ideas that came up included hiring financial consultants who specialize in low-income families, providing mandatory informational sessions for faculty about educating a diverse population, and creating a specific staff member (some suggested a dean, and others suggested a counselor) for low-income students to go to about issues.

My experience at the Celebration of Research was a positive one, but the research does not end here.