By Hayden Welty ’19

THE ROUNDUP

In the same way that money can be a powerfully uplifting force for some families, a lack of it can also suppress people’s voices from being heard.

Historically speaking, even government-sponsored social safety nets have done a lousy job at allowing for merit-based progression through the ranks of the unstable and greasy social ladder. And before these programs, no institutional structures existed except for small religious-based charities to lift up struggling souls––only Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s post-Great Depression New Deal package provided for the poor in a substantive manner.

Since then, while society has taken significant strides in allowing for easier social mobility, inequality remains pervasive in a socioeconomically stratified world.

Over the last decade, however, Brophy has attempted to prevent money from inhibiting talented students from succeeding.

Founded in 2011, the Loyola Academy, a three-year middle school equivalent of Brophy located in an adjunct building, helps preclude money from hindering qualified enrollment. Embracing 10-hour days in an 11-month school year, these enrollees enter into “an all-encompassing program that shepherds these students through a rich and rigorous middle school program and prepares them for Brophy and, ultimately, for college,” according to www.brophyprep.org.

Diversification efforts from the Admissions Office have added a multi-faceted tinge to a traditionally white and Catholic institution, and the work-study and financial aid programs attempt to further remove money from the equation.

To a large degree, it seems as though this work has been tremendously successful.

This year for the first time, Loyola Academy Scholars will graduate from Brophy as the inaugural class. Moreover, the student pool has come to resemble contemporary America more than 1950s Wall Street, and discretionary income of at least $15,000 is no longer necessary for attendance.

The added perspective given by these programs may, in fact, make the seemingly-exorbitant tuition fee worth it.