HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: The Arcane Rules That Keep Low-Income Kids Out of College. “The communication barriers extend in all directions: The federal and state government bureaucrats little fathom the complexities of low-income students’ home lives. But the students, most of them first-generation college aspirants, often do not understand what a ‘loan’ or ‘interest rate’ means–much less how to make sure they maximize their TOPS and Pell Grant payouts if they qualify for both.”

And many just give up when they see all the forms. Bureaucracy often purports to serve the poor, but the poor deal badly with bureaucracy. Bureaucratic hurdles are much less of a barrier to the well-off and connected.