Higher education in the US has been seen as a way to improve one's lot in life - to climb the class ladder. That's still true. But there was a window in the 1

Higher education in the US has been seen as a way to improve one's lot in life - to climb the class ladder. That's still true. But there was a window in the 1970s-1990s in the US where it was MUCH easier to use college and hard work to advance. Tuition was lower and it was easier for poor and middle class kids to get in. Today, tuition has skyrocketed and the middle class is completely filled with kids who hire college consultants and train for standardized tests. Kids outside that elite sphere are at a big disadvantage. That wasn't true in the 70s and 80s, but eventually the upper and upper-middle class figured out how to take advantage of college opportunities and crowded out the working and middle classes.