1. How Low-Income Students Became Invisible at Elite Colleges -- 2. How Alex Got to Dartmouth and Obstacles that Prevent Other Low-Income Students from Attending Elite Schools -- 3. Home Environment to Culture Shock -- 4. Passing -- 5. The Unmoneyed Experience -- 6. Hidden Rules -- 7. Dis-“Orientation” -- 8. True Grit -- 9. Relationships That Matter -- 10. Great Expectations -- 11. Beyond the Ivory Tower -- 12. Low-Income Students Speak Out on Elite Campuses -- 13. Challenging Our Elite Schools to do Better.

This book examines how previously excluded high-achieving, low-income students are faring socially and academically at an Ivy League college in New England. In the past, research conducted on low-income students in elite schools focused mainly on the admissions process. As a result, there is a dearth of research on what happens to low-income students once they are admitted and attend classes. This book chronicles an ethnographic study of twenty low-income men and women in their senior year at Dartmouth College and follows up with them four and twelve years post-graduation. By helping to bring visibility and self-awareness to low-income students and expose class issues and struggles, the author hopes to encourage elite institutions to change their policies and practices to address the needs of these students.