Socio-Economic Status terms to broaden your understanding of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.<\/p>\n
Note: This \u201cLiving Language Guide\u201d is a curated glossary of DEI related terms, which sometimes offers multiple and differing definitions for some concepts. This should NOT be interpreted as Boston University\u2019s recommended or mandated terminology nor used as such. <\/small><\/p>\n Definition:<\/strong> Classism is differential treatment based on social class or perceived social class. Classism is the systematic oppression of subordinated class groups to advantage and strengthen the dominant class groups. It\u2019s the systematic assignment of characteristics of worth and ability based on social class. That includes:<\/p>\n Classism is held in place by a system of beliefs and cultural attitudes that ranks people according to economic status, family lineage, job status, level of education, and other divisions.<\/p>\n Source: HungerCenter.org<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Definition:<\/strong> The institutional, cultural and individual set of practices and beliefs that assign differential value to people according to their socioeconomic class; and an economic system that creates excessive inequality and causes basic human needs to go unmet.<\/p>\n Source: NCCJ.org – National Conference for Community and Justice<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n Definition:<\/strong> Includes all types of financial aid from any source except parents, friends, or relatives. Direct PLUS Loans to parents and other types of aid such as employer aid, veterans\u2019 benefits, and job training grants are included, but federal tax credits for education are not included.<\/p>\n Source: National Center for Education Statistics<\/a> – U.S. Department of Education <\/small><\/p>\n Definition:<\/strong> Financial aid is money to help pay for college or career school. Grants, work-study, loans, and scholarships help make college or career school affordable.<\/p>\n Source: Federal Student Aid<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n Definition:<\/strong> The Newbury Center, at BU, defines first-generation college students as those in the first generation of their families to go to college\u2013i.e. students whose parents\/guardians\/caregivers did not earn bachelor\u2019s degrees, although elder siblings and cousins may be attending college already or have earned four-year degrees.<\/p>\n Source: BU Newbury Center<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Definition:<\/strong> First-generation students are categorized simply as those who are the first in their family to attend college. This leaves room for parents who may have attended some college, but did not complete, and college-going older siblings to be considered first-generation. There are also prevalent research definitions \u2013 one considering no parental education after high school and one considering no parental degree completion after high school. However, some institutions, and researchers, choose to remove the first-generation title from students with parents who have even once enrolled in a college course. More recently, some institutions have chosen to include students with parents who completed a four-year degree at an institution outside the United States as first-generation as well.<\/p>\n Source: Adapted from Center for First-Generation Student Success<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n Definition:<\/strong> Generational wealth refers to any kind of asset that families pass down to their children or grandchildren, whether in the form of cash, investment funds, stocks and bonds, properties or even entire companies.<\/p>\n Source: Shelley Halstead, founder and director of Black Woman Build-Baltimore<\/a> for CNBC<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Definition: <\/strong>The U.S. wealth structure is extremely unequal and marked by very large racial gaps, with the average black household holding less than one tenth the net worth\u2014defined as the total sum of assets minus debts\u2014of the average white household (Oliver and Shapiro 2006). To what extent racial gaps in household net worth persist depends on how many children reproduce the wealth position of their parents, how many move up, and how many fall down.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s black-white gaps in wealth arise from both the historical disadvantage reflected in the unequal starting position of black and white children and contemporary processes, including continued institutionalized discrimination.<\/p>\n Source: Adapted from ASA – American Sociological Association<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n Definition:<\/strong> Includes grants, scholarships, or tuition waivers from federal, state, institutional, or private sources, including employers.<\/p>\n Source: National Center for Education Statistics<\/a> – U.S. Department of Education <\/small><\/p>\n Definition: <\/strong>The federal government provides grants for students attending college or career school. Most types of grants, unlike loans, are sources of free money that generally do not have to be repaid.<\/p>\n Grants can come from the federal government, your state government, your college or career school, or a private or nonprofit organization.<\/p>\n Source: Federal Student Aid<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n Definition:<\/strong> Students from low-income families that typically need substantial financial assistance to be able to Source: Adapted from National Center for Education Statistics<\/a> – U.S. Department of Education <\/small><\/p>\n Definition: <\/strong>The data from the department’s National Center for Education Statistics used Census Bureau definitions and classifies low income as “those whose family incomes fell below 50 percent of the federally established poverty guideline for their family size.”<\/p>\n Compared to wealthier students, this group included more women, first-generation college students and immigrants or second-generation immigrants. It also featured a disproportionate share of black, Latino and Asian American students.<\/p>\n Source: Inside Higher Ed – New Federal Profile of Low-Income Students<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n Definition:<\/strong> Includes federal Pell Grants, federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, need-based state and institutional grants, and federal Perkins Loans, Direct Subsidized Loans, and federal work-study. Direct PLUS Loans to parents, Direct Unsubsidized Loans, federal veterans\u2019 education benefits, job training grants, or other nonfederal loans, work-study, or private aid are not included.<\/p>\n Source: National Center for Education Statistics<\/a> – U.S. Department of Education<\/small><\/p>\n Definition:<\/strong> Financial aid that is need-based depends on person’s financial situation. Most government sources of financial aid are need-based.<\/p>\n Source: Finaid.org<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n Definition:<\/strong> Federal Pell Grants usually are awarded only to undergraduate students who display exceptional financial need and have not earned a bachelor’s, graduate, or professional degree. (In some cases, however, a student enrolled in a postbaccalaureate teacher certification program might receive a Federal Pell Grant.). A Federal Pell Grant, unlike a loan, does not have to be repaid, except under certain circumstances.<\/p>\n Source: Federal Student Aid<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Definition:<\/strong> A federal grant that provides funds of up to $6,345 for the 2020\u201321 award year based on the student\u2019s financial need.<\/p>\n Source: Finaid.org<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n Definition:<\/strong> The transfer of income, property, or wealth from one individual or group to another individual or group. It is an example of redistribution of wealth when the yearly income taxes paid to the local or federal government that are then allocated to various agencies and individuals.<\/p>\n Source: Adapted from Open Education Sociology Dictionary<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Definition:<\/strong> A policy concerned with altering the pattern of the personal distribution of income in an economy, mainly with social rather than economic objectives in mind. The general aim of such a policy is to achieve a more equitable distribution of income as between the various sections of the community so as to ensure that everybody is provided with some minimum standard of living. The transfer of income from one section of the community to another is achieved primarily by the use of a progressive taxation system and a variety of welfare provisions (subsidized housing, old age pensions, etc).<\/p>\n Source: Financial Dictionary<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n Definition:<\/strong> Socioeconomic status indicates one\u2019s access to collectively desired resources, be they material goods, money, power, friendship networks, healthcare, leisure time, or educational opportunities. And it is access to such resources that enable individuals and\/or groups to prosper in the social world.<\/p>\n Source: NIH – National Institutes of Health<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Definition:<\/strong> Socioeconomic status (SES) is a multifaceted, complex measure of social standing that can include cultural, societal, and geographical factors in addition to the educational, occupational, and financial components. Generally, those who are better educated, wealthier, and live in more affluent circumstances enjoy better health status, including periodontal health, than the less educated and poorer segments of society.<\/p>\n Source: Measurement and Distribution of Periodontal Diseases<\/a> – Paul I. EKE PhD, MPH, PhD, Jasim M. Albandar DDS, DMD, PhD, in Burt and Eklund’s Dentistry, Dental Practice, and the Community, 2021<\/small><\/p>\n Definition:<\/strong> Socioeconomic status is the social standing or class of an individual or group. It is often measured as a combination of education, income and occupation. Examinations of socioeconomic status often reveal inequities in access to resources, plus issues related to privilege, power and control.<\/p>\n Source: American Psychological Association<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n Definition:<\/strong> Include only loans to students and may be from federal, state, institutional, or private sources, but exclude other forms of financing such as credit cards, home equity loans, loans from individuals, and Direct PLUS Loans to parents.<\/p>\nClassism<\/h3>
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\nresulting in drastic income and wealth inequality;<\/li>\nFinancial aid<\/h3>
First Generation Student (FGS)<\/h3>
Generational Wealth<\/h3>
Grant aid<\/h3>
Low-Income Student<\/h3>
\nattend college.<\/p>\nNeed-based aid<\/h3>
Pell Grant<\/h3>
Redistribution of Wealth<\/h3>
Socio-economic status (SES)<\/h3>
Student Loan<\/h3>