Podcast Summary: All Of It – “How College COVID-19 Policy Left Many Students Behind”

Host: Alison Stewart
Guest: Professor Anthony Abraham Jack
Air Date: August 28, 2024

Overview

This episode of All Of It explores how college COVID-19 policies in 2020 magnified longstanding inequalities among students. In her discussion with Professor Anthony Abraham Jack, author of Class Dismissed: When Colleges Ignore Inequality and Students Pay the Price, Alison Stewart delves into Jack’s research on the disparate experiences of students—particularly those from low-income backgrounds—during campus shutdowns. The conversation includes interviews and live listener calls, revealing how policy decisions—though often necessary for public health—left many without basic support, exposed a gap between policy intent and student needs, and deepened divides across lines of class and privilege.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Personal Story as Entry Point: Dining Hall Closure & Invisible Needs

• Professor Jack recounts his college days at Amherst, highlighting the overlooked hardships when the dining hall closed during spring break—a metaphor for institutional oversights when supporting low-income students [04:36].
  • Quote: “It’s like they opened the gates to let us low income students in but forgot to keep the doors open.” – Anthony Abraham Jack [04:46]

Why Study Harvard? Elite Colleges as Microcosms

• Jack selected Harvard due to its diverse, “barbell” student body: both wealthy and low-income students in the same environment, making it an ideal place to study inequalities [05:53].
  • Quote: “We think that if you get into Yale, you get into Amherst, you get into Williams, you get into Harvard, that you’ve got the golden ticket, that you’ve somehow made it, that all of your worries are somehow done. But that doesn’t stop the bill collectors from calling.” – Anthony Abraham Jack [07:22]

The “Class Segregated Labor Market”

• COVID-19 exposed how jobs on campus are divided by class. Wealthy students often held secure, academic jobs (TAs, course assistants) that continued remotely, while lower-income students worked in roles (cafés, janitorial, dining halls) that disappeared when campuses closed.
  • Quote: “We have this separate and unequal tier of jobs that are gatekept...practices of who’s comfortable going to a person’s office hours and smoothing with them, that shows that there are things that were existent long before COVID that were a problem on campus that I am now able to expose because COVID made it worse.” – Anthony Abraham Jack [14:44]

The Hidden Curriculum: Networking & Navigating Elite Spaces

• Wealthier students benefited from ‘hidden curricula’—unwritten social codes and advantages in networking—which left less privileged students behind.
  • Listener (Thomas from Brooklyn): “This hidden curriculum idea is very true…there’s a lot of things and ideas and processes I didn’t know about and left me behind, whereas my peers…already knew all about it and from the get go were able to get ahead.” [19:59]

Pandemic Homecomings: Vastly Unequal Experiences

• Students’ home environments varied drastically. Some were isolated in remote, resource-rich locations; others returned to crowded or unstable living situations, complicating online learning.
  • Quote: “The new responsibilities of being a student often conflict with the old responsibilities of home. And I saw that.” – Anthony Abraham Jack [11:56]

Loss of College Community and Leadership Pipeline

• The move online and long campus closures disrupted student organizations, community-building, and leadership development. On returning, upperclassmen and juniors struggled to reconnect and resume pre-pandemic traditions or mentoring roles.
  • Listener (Christina): “It was just very difficult for us to connect with our underclassmen as now upperclassmen, as our older peers had done when we came in as freshmen.” [21:13]
  • Jack’s Reflection: “Their resumes look very different from the classes before and after them…there can be questions about…‘why isn't [she] president of this group?’…We need to account for this gap as not being lazy, but actually just recovering from one of the most traumatic experiences.” [22:59]

Middle Class Squeeze

• Multiple callers and texts highlight the ‘barbell’ effect: the middle class often lacks sufficient support, too wealthy for full aid but unable to comfortably pay full tuition—an issue compounded by ballooning college costs.
  • Quote: “The middle, the core middle class…are pushed out because it’s hard to even get in. We are approaching a time where…a full year cost of over $100,000.” – Anthony Abraham Jack [18:10]

Lingering Mental Health and Academic Effects

• Instructors and students report high levels of disengagement, anxiety, and academic difficulty—trends that lingered after campuses reopened.
  • Listener (Instructor): “Many of my students were a mess during COVID. Those who were at home were largely disengaged and miserable. Those who were on campus were largely isolated and miserable…It’s only returned to ‘normal’ over the last year.” [25:33]

The Need for Policy Change: Moving Beyond Tuition

• Jack emphasizes the need for universities to support students holistically, taking into account the full reality of their home lives and needs, not just tuition aid or admissions. The language and expectations of higher education (“hidden curriculum”) must become more transparent.

  • Quote: “If we don’t, we’re going to lose out on not just lower income students, but more and more middle class students whose parents did not have the same kind of residential experience that some of these campuses offer their children.” – Anthony Abraham Jack [25:18]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “It’s like they opened the gates to let us low income students in but forgot to keep the doors open.” – Anthony Abraham Jack [04:46]
• “We think that if you get into [elite universities]…all your worries are somehow done. But that doesn’t stop the bill collectors from calling. That doesn’t stop the kitchen being bare.” – Anthony Abraham Jack [07:22]
• “The new responsibilities of being a student often conflict with the old responsibilities of home.” – Anthony Abraham Jack [11:56]
• “There are opportunities that are afforded to you if you know the hidden curriculum…But if we continue to leave things unsaid, universities will continue to privilege, privilege and punish those who are from poor backgrounds.” – Anthony Abraham Jack [15:47]
• “I was able to qualify about half [of tuition], but that means I have to take out private loans for the other half because my family still couldn’t afford it.” – Listener, Thomas from Brooklyn [20:43]
• “The language in the academy is loaded and coded in ways that we must account for as we diversify our campus along class lines, especially class lines.” – Anthony Abraham Jack [25:18]

Important Segments & Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment Description | |-----------|----------------------| | 04:36 | Jack’s personal college dining hall closure story — highlights overlooked needs. | | 05:53 | Why Harvard? Explaining why elite college inequality matters for policy. | | 10:24 | On seeing students’ diverse home situations during virtual interviews. | | 13:11 | Revealing the class segregation in student jobs during COVID. | | 15:47 | Unpacking the “hidden curriculum” and access via office hours. | | 18:08 | Listener text about middle class squeeze – Jack’s agreement and elaboration. | | 19:59 | Caller Thomas on hidden curriculum and financial burden. | | 21:13 | Caller Christina on disrupted campus life, rebuilding post-COVID. | | 25:33 | Text from instructor on student disengagement and mental health struggles. | | 26:17 | Jack discusses ongoing struggles, need for policy awareness of home life. |

Takeaways

• COVID-19 exposed and exacerbated class divides in higher education, from job security to academic engagement.
• Elite colleges’ model policies often fail to address the practical and persistent needs of their most vulnerable students.
• The so-called “hidden curriculum” remains a key barrier, especially for first generation and low-income students.
• The pandemic’s effects—on mental health, leadership pipelines, and community—continue to shape campuses and student experiences.
• Addressing inequalities requires more than scholarships: institutions need to reconsider assumptions, language, and support for all students, including the overlooked middle class.

For listeners:
This episode provides both lived experiences and research-backed insight into how college policies can unintentionally worsen inequality, especially during crises. It is essential listening for educators, administrators, families navigating higher education, and anyone invested in building a more equitable college experience.