"Brigham Young University’s flagship campus scores surprisingly poorly on promoting upward social mobility. Last month, a team of researchers, led by Raj Chetty of Stanford University and John Friedman of Brown University, released a new report estimating “mobility ratings” for nearly all colleges in the country. The ratings represent how well institutions enable students from low-income backgrounds to both access and reap the benefits of college.
On this mobility metric, BYU ranked 2,125 out of 2,137 institutions. Only 12 fared worse. Compared only among Division I research universities, BYU occupies the bottom spot."
According to the article, two factors are at play. One is the low participation of female BYU graduates in the labor force. But the other and perhaps greater factor is a failure to admit students from impoverished families. Stanford, Duke, Harvard, Yale, and other schools give far better access to low income students.
It reminds me of Mitt Romney describing his experience at the "Y" as an impoverished newly wed. That is what passes as needy in the church. They really have no idea. Or if they do, the poor are considered as being less fortunate because they are less worthy.