This piece is full of bad takes. Today’s students in college are NOT 18-year-old frat boys playing frisbee on the quad & sorority sisters slamming White Claws by the pool. 34% of students are older than 25; 60% are working; one out of four students is a parent themself! (1/8) https://twitter.com/TheAtlantic/status/1318579517011693578

And about 40% of today’s students attend two year colleges—yet this piece claims that for students who commute (85%), are working (64%), and of an untraditional age (34%), “a college experience is either a luxury or a memory.” Higher ed should be accessible, not a luxury. (2/8)

The author describes college as “seminar discussion in a facsimile of a medieval monastery, the cram session under the vaulted ceiling of a library, the brisk, after-class chat with a professor across a grassy quad.” Sorry, but that is just not who today’s students are! (3/8)

This piece is clearly referring to “traditional students” at “elite” universities, where students are able to exercise their privilege to focus on the “primary purpose of higher ed: college life,” over education & potential economic return on their postsecondary investment. (4/8)

This is not how the majority of students experience higher ed. During the pandemic, 30% of students have lost jobs, more than 50% have experienced food or housing insecurity, and more than 50% struggle to access course work online. (5/8) https://thehill.com/opinion/education/518068-congress-should-help-college-students-bridge-the-digital-divide

The 24% of students who are parents are stretched *extremely* thin. Students are learning in their cars in parking lots to access WiFi, in their childhood bedrooms, at dining tables with other family members and other obligations. (6/8) https://wapo.st/2H98Nic 

And there are plenty of stories out there from #TodaysStudents. @HigherLearnAdv & partners recently ran a social media campaign to share students’ experiences this fall: https://www.mycollegeis.com/ . And the @TS_Coalition hosts student stories here: https://bit.ly/3d77NGR  (7/8)

The story this piece tells is not about #TodaysStudents. Reporters should consider the many students’ stories that are seemingly invalidated by pieces like this and help to spread awareness of the many students who are legitimately suffering as the pandemic continues. (8/8)