ABSTRACT
Engagement is now commonly understood to be critical to students’ success in college, whether success is defi ned as academic performance, persistence to degree completion, or satisfaction. But, considerably less attention has been paid to the reality that engagement is a luxury that affl uent students are most able to aff ord. Engagement requires time, and, while people in the United States do not like to discuss class issues in our supposedly meritocratic society, time is something that is acquired through wealth. In American higher education, the wealthy students have always been more able to choose to not work, to choose to live on campus, and to choose to devote their time to their academic studies as well as co-and extra-curricular activities.
