Is higher education available to all: the gap between rich and poor students has doubled

The gap between rich and poor bachelor’s students has doubled in the last four decades. The study affected young people under the age of 24.

The percentage of students from families with the lowest incomes (receiving less than 34160 dollars per year) who have received a bachelor's degree has already risen three points from 1970, having increased from 6 to 9 percent by 2013. Meanwhile, the number of students from wealthy families rose sharply, rising from 44 to 77 percent.

“It's actually quite surprising how different the incomes of rich and poor families have become,” says Laura Perna, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and executive director of the Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy. The study comes amid renewed debate about access to education.

US President Barack Obama suggested making the first two years of college free. If this law is adopted in each state, about 9 million people will be received annually. This will cost 60 taxpayers billions of dollars. Because of the price, controlled by Republicans, the Congress is most likely not to decide to adopt the bill, writes AmericaRu.com