An article in the November issue of The Atlantic on college admissions practices reported troublesome – albeit not surprising – figures, including the fact that the poorest quarter of Americans obtaining college degrees remains at about 6 percent. That flies in the face of propaganda from our institutions of higher learning, that tout the socioeconomic diversity of their student enrollment.

According to the article written by Ross Douthat, “Inequality of income breeds inequality of education, and the reverse is also true: as long as the financial returns on a college degree continue to rise, the upper and upper-middle classes are likely to pull further away from the working and lower classes.”

Consider these statistics reported in The Atlantic: The chances are roughly 1 in 2 that a student will obtain a bachelor’s degree by age 24 if he or she comes from a family with an annual income over $90,000; roughly 1 in 4 if the family’s income is between $61,000 and $90,000; and 1 in 10 if it is between $35,000 and $61,000. “For high schoolers whose families make less than $35,000 a year, the chances are around one in 17.”

In other words, the playing field at many universities and colleges remains rigged against low-income students despite efforts through financial aid programs and government grants to ensure that everyone who wanted a college education could get one. It just hasn’t happened.

According to The Atlantic’s reporter Douthat, “Not only is admitting too many low-income students expensive, but it can be bad for a school’s ranking and prestige – and in the long run prestige builds endowments.” In short, he says, “A more egalitarian college-admissions system would run counter to the interests of upper-middle-class parents, who wield great influence in the politics of higher education.”

The article prompted a visit to the Web site for the Office of Undergraduate Admission for the University of Maine, which claims it “still works to make education as affordable as possible.” According to UMaine, 85 percent of students receive some sort of financial aid, the average financial aid award being $7,888. Of that aid, 46 percent comes in the form of loans. Approximately 73 percent of the students receive “need-based” aid while the others win merit scholarship awards, totaling more than $1.8 million since 1998.

The cost of attendance at the University of Maine – including tuition and fees, room-board, books and supplies, travel and other expenses – comes to $15,942 for in-state students, $26,082 for out-of-state students and $19,922 for New England Board of Higher Education students receiving a reduced tuition when attending college in another New England state. These figures are based on 15 credit hours per semester.

But the hidden costs of college can climb much higher.

According to The Atlantic, 89 percent of college students have a cell phone, 88 percent own a computer, 84 percent own a television, 73 percent own a DVD player, 50 percent own a stereo system, 15 percent own an iPod (or other MP3 player), and 31 percent traveled overseas in the past year.

Worse, much of this is financed by credit cards. The article stated that 91 percent of college seniors have an average of five credit cards … and carry an average of $2,864 in credit card debt.