1.1 Daniel

Daniel was not the only one crying in an interview. Many people did, including those listening to our preliminary findings or reading early drafts of the work. “Your article brought tears to my eyes. That’s my story too,” said a professor from a working-class background that had studied at the same elite university a long time ago. A graduate student I have not personally met recently sent me an email expressing their gratitude. “Thank you. I have identified with some of your informants. I have felt their emotions. Your articles are therapeutic.” I am not a sociologist specializing in emotions and had not anticipated this aspect in my fieldwork. I had conducted interviewed with individuals from much poorer backgrounds in the outskirts of Montevideo, Bogotá, and Medellín but these emotions did not surface. It turned out that the interviews, articles, and press appearances have stirred the “hidden injuries of class” (Reference Sennett and CobbSennett & Cobb, 1972). They have elicited the “emotional costs of becoming different” (Reference ReayReay, 2005). Social mobility, especially when it is rapid and long-range (Reference BourdieuBourdieu, 1998, Reference Bourdieu2007; Reference FriedmanFriedman, 2014, Reference Friedman2016) and, I would add, when it happens in segregated contexts, incurs emotional and other costs. Section 3 addresses these costs, paying particular attention to the relational costs of making friends and cross-class ties.

Daniel’s story illustrates the complexities of social mobility. If we only take the start and end points, as is often done in social mobility studies, Daniel is clearly a success. He has achieved higher levels of education than his parents and from a prestigious institution. However, (chutes) a closer examination of the longitudinal ethnographic data uncovers the snakes and ladders that can either propel or hinder social mobility. It also sheds light on the subjective processes and experiences of individuals navigating social mobility as the journey unfolds.

1.2 Mobility, (Higher) Education, and Segregation

Upward social mobility involves the movement of individuals from more disadvantaged backgrounds to higher positions on the social ladder. It is often associated with positive changes, from life opportunities to subjective well-being (Reference ChanChan, 2018). Higher education often plays a crucial role in facilitating social mobility, but this often depends on the extent to which the context provides access, retention, and employment opportunities for graduates of diverse backgrounds (Reference Beller and HoutBeller & Hout, 2006; Reference BillinghamBillingham, 2018). Latin American societies tend to have lower levels of educational (Reference Hertz, Jayasundera, Piraino, Selcuk, Smith and VerashchaginaHertz et al., 2007) and income mobility (Reference TorcheTorche, 2014) than more affluent societies, despite the almost doubling of the number of students in higher education programs in the region since 2000, and efforts to make access more equitable (Reference Ferreyra, Avitabile and PazFerreyra, Avitabile, & Paz, 2017).

Higher education is becoming more diverse worldwide. Even elite colleges are opening their doors to more students from different backgrounds, through affirmative action policies, scholarships, loans, and other types of national, local, or institutional policies. In the United States for example, Ivy League Universities, which have faced criticism for their historical exclusionary practices, are actively promoting their diversity (Reference LeeLee, 2016). In Latin America, some countries have implemented specific policies to increase access to elite education for underprivileged groups. These policies include affirmative action for Afro-Brazilian students in Brazil (Reference Valente and BerryValente & Berry, 2017), subsidies in Peru (Reference Adrianzén, Chevez, Morales, Quevedo and ChiyónAdrianzén, Chevez, Morales, Quevedo, & Chiyón, 2019; Reference CotlerCotler, 2016) similar policies in Colombia and the introduction of free higher education in Chile (Reference Espinoza and GonzálezEspinoza & González, 2016). Understanding the experiences of lower-class students after they enter universities is crucial to improving their experience, ensuring retention, and promoting social mobility. Does high-quality higher education succeed in leveling the basic inequalities that exist between students from different socioeconomic backgrounds? What happens after access? These questions are the focus of Section 3, dedicated particularly to analyzing and developing the concept of relational costs, which refers to the costs of building friendships, especially with more privileged peers, which can increase the social capital of underprivileged.

Besides educational opportunities, diversified networks can play a critical role in social mobility. Recent research by Chetty and his co-authors (Reference Chetty, Jackson and Kuchler2022) has shed light on a topic with a long tradition in sociology (Reference ColemanColeman, 1988) and that inspired this research: the role of social capital in social mobility. With novel evidence and methodological creativity their work reveals that growing up in environments with more interclass connections is beneficial for those with fewer resources as it increases their likelihood of achieving social mobility.

In class-segregated societies such as the ones often found in Latin America, opportunities for achieving social mobility via this mechanism of interclass connections have always been limited and are becoming even scarcer. Neighborhoods, schools, and public spaces are becoming increasingly more class segregated, even in societies with traditionally more cross-class interactions like the Southern Cone ones (Reference KaztmanKaztman, 2001). As Reference SaravíSaraví (2015) describes for the case of Mexico, youth from different socioeconomic backgrounds often have distinct and separate life trajectories and very rarely cross paths. The city they inhabit, their consumption spaces, and their schools are worlds apart. This is what makes the experiment this Element is based on, the SPP program, so unique.

Yet, the path to social mobility extends beyond higher education and into the labor market, where new barriers and opportunities may emerge, and existing evidence presents a mixed picture. While some studies highlight the leveling role of higher education in the labor market (Reference Chetty, Friedman, Saez, Turner and YaganChetty et al. 2020; Reference Manzoni and StreibManzoni & Streib, 2019; Reference TorcheTorche, 2011), others highlight the specific barriers present in certain labor markets, in particular the additional role of cultural or social capital, regardless of education, to enter elite occupations which require a certain “pedigree” (Reference RiveraRivera, 2016) and have a “class ceiling” (Reference Friedman and LaurisonFriedman & Laurison, 2019).

This study is one of the few (Reference Bathmaker, Ingram and AbrahamsBathmaker et al., 2016; Reference Ingram, Bathmaker and AbrahamsIngram et al., 2023; Reference RoysterRoyster, 2003) – and the only one in the region to my knowledge – following students from when they enter college through their transition to the labor market. This extended perspective allows me to observe the process and the mechanisms that either perpetuate inequality or facilitate mobility as they occur over a substantial period of time. This timeline encompasses two turning points: entering school and entering the labor market. As mentioned earlier, this study unveils the effectiveness of two mechanisms: gate opening (which eases access to university and later to a promising job market for degree holders) and diversified networks (which foster integration and later establish contacts for the labor market). While focusing on these virtuous mechanisms, the study also emphasizes the costs of social mobility in each part of the process.

1.3 Colombia and Its Opportunity Opening and Mixing Experiment

With a Gini index of 0.51 (World Bank, 2021), Colombia is the eleventh most unequal country in the world. Although recent years have witnessed a considerable decrease in poverty and a much more modest reduction in inequality, the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically increased monetary poverty (to 42.5 percent of the population according to the National Statistics Department DANE in 2021), exacerbating inequality once more. Colombia continues to exhibit a particularly high association between parents’ and their children’s education, especially when compared to similar countries in the region (Reference Angulo, Gaviria, Páez and AzevedoAngulo, Gaviria, Páez, & Azevedo, 2012; Reference Behrman, Gaviria, Székely, Birdsall and GalianiBehrman, Gaviria, Székely, Birdsall, & Galiani, 2001; Reference García, Rodríguez, Sánchez and BedoyaGarcía, Rodríguez, Sánchez, & Bedoya, 2015). Besides high levels of inequality and limited social mobility, Colombia is also a deeply socially segregated society, particularly at the upper echelons of society. In terms of education, class segregation has been a long-standing issue. Public education was originally established to cater to the needs of the poor (Reference García-Villegas, Cárdenas and FergussonGarcía-Villegas, Cárdenas, & Fergusson, 2021). The rich and the poor have rarely shared educational spaces, leading some authors to speak of an educational apartheid, considering elementary and secondary schooling (Reference García-Villegas and LópezGarcía-Villegas & López, 2011).

Although the rate of students attending higher education has been growing in Colombia, reaching a surprising 53.9 percent (SNIES, 2021), access is still profoundly class segregated, especially if we consider access to what the Ministry of Education classifies as high-quality institutions. There is a strong correlation between socioeconomic status and results in the end-of-high-school state exam (Saber 11), which determines students’ access to many high-quality universities. Despite the majority of students taking the state exam (Saber 11) belonging to the lower strata, the ones achieving high scores and entering universities primarily come from more affluent backgrounds. Only 5 percent of students from the lowest official socioeconomic category (Estrato 1) score in the top decile of the exam distribution (Reference Álvarez-Rivadulla, Castro and CorredorÁlvarez-Rivadulla et al., 2017, data from 2012 to 2015). Moreover, due to other barriers (additional and challenging entrance exams, financial constraints, relocation needs, work commitments, limited scholarship opportunities, apprehension toward loans, etc.), even those outliers from the lower SES who do well on the state exam do not enjoy guaranteed access to high-quality higher education.

To change this educational context for a group of exceptional underprivileged students that, despite their hardships, managed to perform outstandingly in the Saber 11 test, the Colombian government implemented an intervention policy that ran between 2014 and 2018. For four years, 10,000 beneficiaries received a forgivable loan to enter the accredited higher education institution of their choice, for the duration of their studies. This demand-side subsidy included tuition fees and a stipend and was forgivable provided the student graduated. To qualify, students had to fulfill three requirements. First, they needed an exceptionally high score in the Saber 11 (top decile); second, their household needed to be categorized as extremely poor according to a state survey used to target social policy (SISBEN); and, finally, they had to be admitted by the program they applied to at an accredited higher education institution (Reference Medina, Ariza, Navas, Rojas, Parody and ValdiviaMedina et al., 2018).

The program increased access to higher education for the target population by 46.5 percent (Reference Londoño-Vélez, Rodríguez and SánchezLondoño-Vélez, Rodríguez, & Sánchez, 2020) and disrupted the extreme patterns of class segregation, especially in Colombia’s elite private universities where, for the first time, a high proportion of students did not belong to the most privileged classes. Most students chose private universities, mainly because of the institutions’ perceived prestige. This makes sense in a very heterogeneous and unequal higher education system where labor market returns to education depend on the institution, with graduates from prestigious private universities having higher salaries (Reference Barrera-Osorio and Bayona-RodríguezBarrera-Osorio & Bayona-Rodríguez, 2019). Others, despite wanting to enter a public university, did not pass the additional entrance exam. The private elite university in which we conducted our research is one of the most selective, prestigious, and expensive in Colombia, ranked among the top five in Latin America (Reference Quacquarelli-SymondsQuacquarelli-Symonds, 2022). SPP dramatically changed its student composition (see Figure 1).

Figure 1 Study University incoming students’ SES before and after the SPP program.

While the proportion of low socioeconomic status students (SES) was less than 7 percent the year before SPP started, it rose to about 25 percent of the incoming cohorts while the program lasted.Footnote ¹ Thus, the program provided a unique opportunity to observe social mobility processes as they unfolded within an institution that due to the aforementioned signaling effects has better returns in the labor market. It also offered the possibility to observe how students from low SES backgrounds integrated into inter-class network formation, which is closely associated with increased social mobility opportunities. Finally, as an elite institution, the university also offered the possibility to investigate social closure, opportunity hoarding, and other mechanisms of social reproduction that tend to hinder social mobility.

1.4 The Study

This mixed-methods study was conducted over eight years at an elite higher education institution dubbed Study University. It involved various data collection methods, including network surveys, interviews, and ethnographic data.Footnote ² Different types of data complement each other. The study began while individuals were still students, with the two-wave survey and the first wave of interviews taking place primarily between 2016 and 2017. Observations, follow-ups, and informal conversations were ongoing throughout the study. The second wave of interviews was held after the participants had graduated, in 2022. The sample was chosen to maximize variation with a particular focus on social class and academic majors.

1.5 A Note on Race

Although this study focuses on class, a note on race is important here, as most of the scholarship on school integration and diversity comes from the United States and focuses on racial disparities, but also because Latin American societies are deeply “pigmentocratic” (Reference TellesTelles, 2014), and Colombia is no exception (Reference Urrea, Viáfara and ViverosUrrea, Viáfara, & Viveros, 2014). Having darker skin and being racialized limits opportunities and social mobility (Reference Viáfara LópezViáfara López, 2017; Reference Viveros VigoyaViveros Vigoya, 2022). A long history of colonization, slavery, and continuous institutional and everyday racism is behind current disparities in the educational attainment of indigenous peoples and blacks in the region and in Colombia in particular. It is precisely because of these deep inequalities that the scholarship students were of lighter skin than economically similar populations (Reference Álvarez-RivadullaAlvarez-Rivadulla, 2017). Those that were able to excel in their state exams despite being poor were not, in general, the darkest-skinned students in the country.

Although Study University does not collect data on ethnicity and race, the presence of Afro or indigenous students (and professors) is notably low. And darker skin students feel “othered,” as the following reflections made by Josué, a Social Science student from the Caribbean Coast sharply testify. He wrote the following after discussing Du Bois in my undergraduate theory class.

Josué painfully and clearly reveals how race and otherness mark him in this new white elite context. He illustrates how interpretations of racial categories intersect with class in mestizo societies like the Colombian one, where a higher social class can lighten your skin in the eyes of others, and there’s a perceived obligation to whiten when upwardly mobile as shown by Reference Viveros VigoyaViveros Vigoya (2022). As interesting as this is, I did not encounter enough cases in the interviews to thoroughly analyze the additional impact of racialization on hindering social mobility.

1.6 A Note on Gender

As necessary as a reflection on race is, of course, a reflection on gender. The literature has emphasized the role of gender in social mobility, typically negatively affecting women and sexual minorities. Disparities in educational attainment and choices, occupational segregation, the gender wage gap, unpaid care work, maternity penalties, the glass ceiling in higher-ranking professions, open and covert discrimination, and other factors undermine women’s possibilities for upward mobility. Like in many countries, despite the remarkable improvement in female labor market participation and education in the last decades, a sizeable gender gap still exists in Colombia. This gap is not explained by women’s characteristics but by labor market differential returns (Reference Badel and PeñaBadel & Peña, 2010). Women have surpassed men in tertiary education, for example. Yet, they face a glass ceiling effect and “quicksand floor effect,” representing differential labor market returns for women both at the top and at the bottom of the distribution.

According to the available national data on the SPP program, “females disproportionately benefit from financial aid in accessing and graduating from high-quality colleges. However, females experience similar learning and earnings gains to males since they are less likely to graduate from STEM degrees and more likely to graduate from social sciences and humanities” (Reference Álvarez-Rivadulla, Jaramillo, Fajardo, Cely, Molano and MontesLondoño-Vélez, Rodríguez, Sánchez, & Álvarez-Rivadulla, 2022, p. 24). Thus, women’s greater achievements in accessing and graduating end up leveling up in the labor market because of the unequal sexual division of disciplines and associated labor markets.

During fieldwork, I continuously paid attention to gender differences in social integration to the university and in labor market trajectories. While I did not find clear gender differences in number or types of friends, as developed later in the text, I did find more demands in terms of aesthetics for women to belong to the expected profile of an elite college student. Yet, these demands were not completely clear. Rather than having a defined dress code, the environment of this college resembled what Reference Friedman and LaurisonFriedman and Laurison (2019, p. 25) refer to as “studied informality,” characterized by casual modes of self-presentation in dressing and interaction that follow complex, but informal, codes. Thus, simple rules like associating price with style, or preferring high culture, are insufficient to make adequate choices in terms of cultural capital (Corredor & Álvarez Rivadulla, 2024).

This can make camouflaging easier or cheaper, but at the same time, more complicated because the rules are not clear. Mentions about having to straighten their hair appeared only among either women or, in one case, in an interview with a gay male student. Straight hair is often perceived a racial identifier, associated with whiteness and cultural conformity in many Latin American contexts, particularly evident in Colombia. In contrast, curly or wavy hair is either curly subject to racialization or viewed as unkempt (Reference Rodríguez and ArcherRodríguez & Archer, 2022). Apprehension regarding clothing choices, especially during the first semester, emerged predominantly among women. However, I lack systematic evidence of other gender-based distinctions during college, unlike findings in similar contexts such as the Chilean one (Reference Rodríguez AnaizRodríguez Anaiz, 2023). Post-college, in job interviews, some women conveyed experiencing remarks about appearing “too young,” for their positions, that they had to wear makeup and dress differently to look more professional. Male young professionals did not mention receiving similar comments.

Where I did find clearer gender disparities was in the caregiving workload, especially post-college. As detailed in Section 4, many scholarship graduates assume the role of primary providers of their families. However, women, in addition to their economic responsibilities, have to take on more caregiving duties in their households. This includes helping to raise siblings, directly caring for their mothers or grandmothers, and so on. Despite the absence of significant differences in average earnings between females and males based on general quantitative data, I contend that any comparison must consider nonpaid working hours. This perspective is crucial for understanding the potential impact on paid labor, social mobility, and general well-being as individuals progress through life.

Finally, as expounded in Section 2, the role of women, especially mothers, is pivotal in the social mobility of their offspring. Quantitative studies have consistently indicated that the influence of maternal education on children’s educational attainment tends to surpass that of paternal education. Moreover, qualitatively, it is evident that the role of women is very important in the intergenerational transmission of class and mobility expectations (Reference Vigoya and HernándezVigoya & Hernández, 2010).

2.1 Families, Mothers, and Expectations

A family’s socioeconomic background is a strong predictor of academic achievement. This effect tends to be stronger in societies with low social mobility. Besides access to better resources, from nutrition to education, we know that everyday socialization practices also influence class transmission, mainly through the acquisition of different forms of cultural capital. Cultural capital, a concept developed by Pierre Bourdieu (Reference BourdieuBourdieu, 1984, Reference Bourdieu2018), refers to “the symbols, ideas, tastes, and preferences that can be strategically used as resources in social action” (Reference Scott and MarshallScott & Marshall, 2009), in particular for status distinction, opportunity hoarding, exclusion, and other forms of class reproduction or mobility.

Reference LareauLareau’s (2011) pioneering work in sociology revealed that middle-class families transmit middle-class cultural capital and aspirations through upbringing. In her interviews and ethnographic observations of family nurturing and caring priorities and practices, she saw that the working class and the middle class had very different parenting styles. Middle-class families took their children to several extracurricular activities, leaving them with little free time. They also emphasized the use of language, conversation, and negotiated rules, which fostered a sense of empowerment among their children. This “concerted cultivation” creates adults who do well in school, know how to talk and challenge authority, and are good at managing time, qualities needed to remain in the middle class. Lower-class parents, in turn, gave more autonomy to their children, offering them more free time and taking them to fewer or no structured activities. These children were able to play and watch TV with friends in their neighborhoods or extended families. Rules were stricter and nonnegotiable, and adults used more physical forms of discipline. This “natural growth” parenting style generates students and later adults who are less able to challenge authority and negotiate rules. Either they accept or withdraw. They also have more difficulty navigating middle-class institutions such as college if they manage to enter.

Interviews with SPP students explored parenting styles and childhood experiences through different questions. Interestingly, they did not match what Lareau found for working-class families. On the one hand, although one of the criteria for obtaining the scholarship was being socioeconomically deprived, families were heterogeneous in their cultural capital. Although most parents had only finished primary education, a few had started or even finished university studies, not in the best universities, but they had professional degrees, nonetheless. Those students’ good results are less of a surprise. Their parents’ own aspirations and cultural capital led them to do well at school. On the other hand, and perhaps more interestingly, parents, especially mothers, with limited formal education, were still a great source of cultural capital for their children in ways that helped them have a positive educational experience. The role of mothers as the main channels of cultural capital because of the unequal division of care labor has been highlighted in different studies (Reference ReayReay, 2000). However, in this case, the significance of mothers is magnified by the fact that many becados come from households led by single mothers.

Thus, mothers’ own mobility aspirations, albeit their profound lack of opportunities, impacted their children’s. They took them to extracurricular activities such as church choir or various sports; they supervised homework or simply encouraged them to keep studying more than they had the chance to. For example, Luis, a black student with astoundingly good grades, two majors, and an impossibly tight schedule, is a first-generation student as well as a scholarship holder. His father did not finish elementary school, and his mother only received her high school degree several months after Luis interview. She still managed to raise him in such a way that he never doubted he would go on to get a higher education. He stated the following in this respect:

For Luis, the pivotal factor in his success was the high expectations his mother always held for him, as well as her efforts to provide the cultural capital she lacked (for example, by buying him books, a commodity which not many low-income families can afford). Most cases revealed more features of concerted cultivation than of natural growth. Scholarship students participated in various extracurricular activities, reflecting a deliberate effort to enrich their experiences. Although many used to have free time playing outside, especially those that lived in smaller cities or towns, several parents did not allow them to play outside because they saw the neighborhood as a risk and a bad influence. These parents wanted their children to be different; they wanted them to be able to get out of the neighborhood. Taking them to extracurricular activities was a way to keep them busy and not outside. Valentina, a cultural studies student, was an example of this:

Although mothers appeared more, in part because fathers were not there in many cases, Valentina’s case shows a similar mechanism but with her father. He always motivated her to study because he had wanted to study and could not afford it, despite getting the best score in his standardized exam when finishing high school in the whole of the Boyacá department. He got a partial scholarship, but he couldn’t afford the other half to continue studying. He wanted to be an engineer, but he ended up working first as a driver for many years, and later, after taking a few business administration course, doing accounting work for some businesses. When asked who she admired the most, Valentina immediately mentioned him.

Based on the interviews with these academic outliers, I can say that they were generally raised with significant adult involvement, that many of them went to extracurricular activities, and that women caregivers, particularly mothers, but also grandmothers, were crucial for their academic success. This crucial role was not mostly through involvement with school tasks or overseeing all of their children’s free time, like in Reference LareauLareau’s (2011) description of US middle-class families. Instead, these women served as exemplars of resilience and strongly believed in the importance of education to their children for social mobility and personal success in life.

There are no similar studies for different types of families or youth in Colombia, so we do not know to what extent these parenting approaches are generalizable among the lower classes.

Yet, what we do know is that Colombians tend to be optimistic about future mobility, regardless of their income, and despite being pessimistic (and realistic) when evaluating their previous mobility experiences. They believe their children will do better than they did (Reference Londoño-VélezLondoño-Vélez, 2011). Colombians also tend to see education as a crucial mechanism to become and remain middle class (Reference Álvarez-Rivadulla, Assusa and BenzaÁlvarez-Rivadulla, 2023). Even some of those growing up in the poorest neighborhoods and with no role models in their families or surroundings aspire to study after high school, although most of them either do not in the end or drop out soon after starting (Reference Díaz VargasDíaz Vargas, 2013). Despite the fact that many share mobility aspirations in Colombia, what may distinguish high achievers like the SPP recipients is the transmission not only of mobility aspirations but also of specific skills to perform well in the system and persist in their goals.

2.2 Exceptional Teachers in Underprivileged Institutions

In the context of the educational class apartheid (Reference García-Villegas and LópezGarcía-Villegas & López, 2011) in Colombia, as outlined earlier, particularly the divide between public and private education (within the public system as well), it is not surprising that the majority of scholarship students came from underfunded state schools. Most interviewees remember their high school as academically challenging environments with prevalent social issues. However, many of them describe having found, in these very schools, a teacher who played a pivotal role in changing the trajectory of their lives.

Valeria, a literature student, who had great academic and social difficulties when entering college and had to drop out for a semester, study English to survive in college, and come back, described her high school as having been very problematic.

Socially, Valeria said the school had a “heavy atmosphere” because of the students and the neighborhood. She said that in her school:

This school environment, which is the norm rather than the exception in several low-income neighborhoods, presents huge academic, social, cultural, and emotional disadvantages for its students. Yet, even in those educational environments, most interviewees told stories of finding one teacher, generally a social sciences’ teacher, that showed them a way out. They remembered teachers that were dedicated, that gave them some key career information, and teachers who showed them they were good and could do better.

We have already seen the power of some teachers in the case of Sergio in the opening part of this section. Carolina tells a similar story. Her state school in a working-class neighborhood in Bogotá (Patio Bonito) was a huge. She recalls that many of the teachers left students that “didn’t want to learn” outside and only taught the ones that did. Carolina found a particularly inspiring group of teachers there that talked to the students as equals, giving her recognition and motivation. She particularly remembers her math teacher, a highly qualified teacher who started sending Carolina to Math Olympics once she realized how good she was. With them, she felt singled out in the multitude, listened to, and promoted as a good student.

Carolina mentioned feeling challenged academically by these two teachers but also mentioned many noncognitive factors she valued from her school, and that she felt were important for who she is now, a critical woman, who has finished her psychology degree. She also remembered a professor that helped her choose which university to go to when she won the scholarship. He had information that nobody else in her environment had. His children were studying at a private university and he told Carolina that if she could choose, she should choose Study University, because he thought that even though it was more elitist, there was less risk of being discriminated against. She still likes to go back to her high school. Teachers invite her to tell her story to new students, as a role model, which makes her feel valued and useful.

Stories like Carolina’s or Sergio’s, of good experiences with exceptional teachers in underprivileged institutions, were common in many of the children’s narratives. This stands in contrasts with Reference JackJack’s (2019) finding for the US context, where he identified a group of “privileged poor” Afro kids receiving scholarships to attend elite high schools. These youngsters learned early on in life how to behave in middle- and upper-class institutions and how to manage inter-class relations. These youngsters overwhelmingly secured scholarships for prestigious colleges and, in contrast to their counterparts that did not have similar experiences, excelled in these academic settings. While I did find some very rare instances of “privileged poor,” who had had similar experiences in private high schools, the majority did not fit the “privileged poor” characterization as outlined by Jack. Instead, they were students who had the fortune of encountering good teachers in underprivileged schools. This underscores the significant influence teachers wield in altering academic trajectories even in adverse conditions.

2.3 Conclusion: The Power of Opportunity

SPP students and upwardly mobile students in general are exceptional. We know little about exceptional success stories in breaking the barriers of social reproduction (Reference StreibStreib, 2017). While conventional wisdom tends to attribute individual effort to all cases of mobility, sociological perspectives often reveal a broader pattern: those who were previously privileged tend to sustain or augment their advantage, even when effort is taken into account. However, socially mobility does occur, albeit infrequently.

Psychology, on the other hand, introduces individual explanations such as grit or personality traits to better explain the variation among those who, without prior privilege, manage to thrive. The students in this study exhibit exceptional qualities on a personal level. Listening to their narratives and seeing them overcome challenges over the years, it is evident that they are clearly resilient and resourceful. Yet, from a sociological perspective, I have tried to understand common factors in their trajectories that could help, at least in part, explain why those features emerged.

There are methodological restrictions to any generalization here, as I do not have a control group of similar socioeconomically deprived youngsters with lower educational outcomes. Despite these limitations, recurring themes in the stories, such as parents – particularly mothers – holding expectations of social mobility via education, and the influence of exceptional teachers demonstrating a different trajectory was possible, are prevalent enough to allow me to conclude that they likely played a substantial role in explaining these students’ exceptional academic records.

Yet, it is important to point out that these features might not have been relevant enough had it not been for the opening of an opportunity. Without the SPP program, these exceptional youngsters would not be where they are now, particularly given the current conditions of higher education in Colombia. The first impact evaluation of the program is clear in finding that they would not have been able to access higher education in top-quality institutions. The second impact evaluation is clear in revealing that they would not have graduated at the same speed nor would they have achieved comparable positions or salaries without the program’s influence (Londoño-Vélez et al., 2022).

The siblings of these scholarship students were not able to enjoy the same opportunities. They too tend to want to study or are studying but their trajectories are harsher. Sergio’s brother, for example, who he considers to be much smarter than himself, would like to study industrial engineering but is currently working at a greengrocery in his town and living with their grandma hoping to be able to study one day. His state exam results were not high enough for him to be granted a full scholarship, and even if he goes to a public university, he still must pay some level of fees and be able to survive financially in the closest city, Barranquilla, where they do not have any relatives. The most important lesson from this policy experiment is the transformative power of opening doors previously closed to a group of 40,000 students, enabling them to thrive. It’s essential not to lose sight of the broader impact – the forest – while trying to explain variation within specific trees.

3.1 Building Networks

Contrary to the literature predicting isolation for those who feel like outsiders in college, a network survey encompassing students of four different majorsFootnote ⁵ revealed no statistically significant differences in the reported number of friends based on social class (Figure 2). This measurement considered both the number of classmates nominating a certain student as their friend (indegree) and the number of friends that student, in turn, nominates as her friends (outdegree). On average, lower-class students reported having as many friends as their middle-class and upper-class counterparts (about 7 to 9 friends in their cohort).

Figure 2 Average number of incoming nominations as a friend (indegree) and outgoing nominations (outdegree) by SES, with confidence intervals.

Figure 3 further demonstrates that, as expected, low SES students tend to have more friends with a similar SES, but cross-class friendships are not uncommon. Although less likely with high-SES classmates, such friendships exist (on average, each low SES has one high-SES friend). Moreover, cross-class friendships are even more common with middle-SES classmates. In fact, middle-SES students seem to act as brokers in these networks, connecting with both low- and high-SES classmates.

Figure 3 Average number of different SES friends (outdegree) by students’ SES.

While friendships with other scholarship students gave lower-class students a safe environment with shared experiences and cultural capital, and the same economic restrictions, friendships with higher-class students gave them the opportunity to gain cultural capital, diversify experiences, and a foster sense of belonging to the institution and to the new class environment. A business administration student with two close friends, a middle-class one, and another scholarship student, explains what she gains from homophilic relationships:

Throughout the interview, she also shows what she has gained from more heterophilic relationships. She has felt welcomed by most classmates. She feels she belongs to the university and her expectations about the future have changed.

The meaning of a close friendship, generally understood by students of all social classes, inevitably involved more than just sharing schoolwork – it encompassed shared free time activities, mutual trust, support, and intimacy. For lower-class students this was much easier, effortless, and more immediate with other lower-class students. These relationships were characterized by a sense of commonality, from language to humor to past high school experiences, not to mention the same economic restrictions or proximity in nearby neighborhoods.

Lower-class students tended to describe conversations with higher-class friends as more “academic,” “rational,” circumscribed to the university. Yet, half of our forty-four lower-class interviewees mentioned at least one higher-class friend among their three closest university friends. Most of these friends were middle class as determined through various class indicators gathered in the interviews. These indicators included not being on an SPP scholarship, attending a private (though not elite) high school, having professional parents, or living in a middle-class neighborhood). In some cases, data triangulation was possible (e.g., when we had those friends in our data, we could check which official strata they lived in, with strata 3 or 4 indicating that they were middle class). Some were identified as upper middle class, but only exceptionally as upper class. We identified the latter mainly because they went to international bilingual schools.

3.2 Relational Costs in Cross-Class Relations

3.3 Class Relational Work in Cross-class Relations

3.4 Beyond Relational Costs: Catching Up Academically and with the Institutional Hidden Curriculum

In this section, I have attempted to contribute theoretically to understanding the challenges faced by underprivileged groups entering privileged environments, focusing specifically on the costs associated with engaging in heterogeneous relationships and the requisite relational work. However, it is important to acknowledge that relational costs are not the sole hurdles confronted by students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. A substantial part of their effort was directed toward catching up academically, including learning the hidden curriculum. Studying at an elite university with a high academic level demanded a significant investment from these becados. Beyond dedicating more time and resources to enhance their skills, they also felt a constant pressure, responsibility, and anxiety stemming the uncertainty of whether or not they will be able to meet the academic requirements. As mentioned earlier, most scholarship students come from underfunded state schools. Many of them told us that, while they thought they were really good students based on their previous academic experiences, they felt insecure and underprepared when they entered the university.

The negative consequences of these academic disadvantages were less evident in their academic outcomes than in terms of their emotional distress (Reference Corredor, González-Arango and Maldonado-CarreñoCorredor, González-Arango, & Corredor et. al. 2020b). In fact, the pilos’ grades were, on average, similar to those of regular students, controlling for program, while dropout rates were lower.Footnote ⁷ Yet, maintaining these positive academic results while dealing with the stress of having to repay the condonable loan in the event of noncompletion exerted overwhelming pressure on the pilos. The cumulative pressures compounded for many who had to leave their hometowns to study in the capital, resulting in a lack of the familiar social support offered by family and community. Also, issues such as delayed subsidies led to them having insufficient funds for transportation or meals on certain days.

One of the biggest academic challenges for most pilos at Study University was their level of English proficiency. Despite the availability of English classes at the university, pilos felt overwhelmed due to the extensive amount of readings in English within regular classes, often all in the same semester. This demand not only presented an academic challenge but also served a class marker.

The assumption that university students are proficient in English as a second language is just one facet of the broader issue. Elite colleges often harbor additional layers of hidden curriculum that translate into cultural capital, thereby transforming into learning costs for scholarship students. During an informal conversation with two students, they reported an instance in which a professor at Study University mentioned a painting in a European museum as if everybody knew it. In response, these students resourcefully got together after class, to look it up on the internet and catch up, but they felt they were the only ones that did not understand the reference and they did not want the others to discover they had never heard of that painting.

There are many subtle ways in which institutions assume specific cultural capital from students. Elite institutions like the one in this study are accustomed to empowered students that ask questions, come to office hours, write emails to professors, and ask for flexibility if they cannot turn in an exam. As in Reference JackJack’s (2016) study, scholarship students have to learn that “there’s no harm in asking.”

3.5 Institutional Variation

While academic costs were consistently high across different institutions, relational costs proved to be notably elevated in elite environments. Elsewhere, we draw comparisons with data from different institutional contexts (Reference Corredor, González-Arango and Maldonado-CarreñoCorredor et al., 2020a). However, this books’ fieldwork uncovered a rare natural experiment that serves as a valuable illustration of this phenomenon:

This rare quasi-natural experiment of two almost sisters in two different contexts reveals that institutional variation in terms of socioeconomic heterogeneity and institutional culture can determine how lower-class students adapt (Reference Aries and SeiderAries & Seider, 2005; Reference Corredor, González-Arango and Maldonado-CarreñoCorredor et al., 2020a). Within the elite institution, we also found variation by program, depending on class heterogeneity, but also on professional cultures. For example, scholarship students felt much more welcomed in engineering or in the social sciences than in law, where they faced a more classist environment.

3.6 Conclusion

The case of scholarship students entering an elite university in Colombia provides a unique lens through which we can observe unlikely cross-class interactions and, therefore, the possibility of building diversified networks, which, in turn, may serve as a mechanism for social mobility. While much is known about segregation in educational and other environments, there is limited understanding of what transpires when individuals from disparate socioeconomic backgrounds converge, and the intricate dynamics within these relationships.

In doing so, this research makes a valuable contribution to the broader literature on the costs of college integration and upward mobility. Traditionally, this literature has focused on cultural capital gaps, conflicts, and associated costs. However, this study brings to light another significant cost: the effort involved in building social capital. Social capital is a crucial asset that can play a pivotal role in effectively achieving desired social mobility.

This case study teaches us about the possibilities of cross-class interactions and unveils the unevenly distributed costs and efforts associated with them, often borne by the less privileged individuals. In doing so, this research makes a valuable contribution to the broader literature on the costs of college integration and upward mobility, diverging from the predominant focus on cultural capital gaps, conflicts, and costs. Specifically, this research brings attention to an often-overlooked dimension: the cost of building social capital – a pivotal asset essential for effectively attaining desired social mobility. Unlike the prevailing literature on mixing in college, which tends to underscore issues such as isolation, homophily, and related costs, this research uniquely accentuates the presence and advantages of cross-class interactions. Notably, it emphasizes the positive impact on lower-class students, highlighting their symbolic belonging to the educational institution and their cultivation of middle-class cultural capital, which may serve them for social mobility in the future.

While same-class interactions were much easier, and a source of security and identification, students from low socioeconomic backgrounds actually did not confine themselves solely to segregated networks. Our study contributes to existing literature on similar elite contexts by highlighting the intricacies of cross-class relationships (Reference LeeLee, 2016; Reference Zelizer and GaydoshZelizer & Gaydosh, 2019). It does so for a particularly unequal context, not only in terms of the institution, but also in terms of the broader national and regional context, where youth trajectories are often completely segregated, and upward mobility opportunities exceptionally low. This extreme context is methodologically useful because it magnifies both the costs and the strategies to overcome them. It also underscores an important condition behind the possibility of fostering cross-class interactions, reminiscent of Reference AllportAllport’s (1954) contact theory: the presence of conditions of equality (merit in this case) and extended contact time. However, mixing and contact do not happen automatically; they require relational work, and if institutions fail to change, the work rests mainly on the shoulders of those who have to adapt.

4.1 The Winners

Álvaro is a biomedical engineering graduate, self-trained as a big data and artificial intelligence engineer, currently working at a quantum computing US-based startup company. He left a position as data engineer at an international bank once he felt he had reached a learning ceiling there. His salary is higher than all the other interviewees, regardless of their socioeconomic background (it is actually even higher than mine). He entered a thriving labor market in a niche industry. And for the first time in his life, his mind was at ease in terms of his finances. He lives on his own and helps his grandmother, who raised him. I met Álvaro in one of his elective classes, and I followed him for several years. We became close and I witnessed how he came up against several barriers throughout college. He dropped out of high school out of necessity, and was working when he decided to take the state exam, in which he excelled. Serendipitously, in that same year, his performance made him beneficiary of an SPP scholarship. He had never dreamed of studying at a private university. It was not easy. He had to move to Bogotá. He was older than his classmates. It was difficult to make friends. He was in risk of dropping out at least twice for financial and personal reasons. The pandemic hit when he was in his final semesters. He faced challenges with limited internet access for studying in his room in a boarding house. But, he persevered, even resorting to crowdfunding at one point, and ultimately graduated. His resourcefulness knew no bounds and despite him realizing relatively early that he would have liked computer/industrial engineering or physics better, he could not go back. Paying a semester on his own was unthinkable. Savvy and autodidact, he started to build his CV in preparation for the labor market. He started to take Coursera courses and contacting people in the field. Unable to help with computer engineering, I helped him build his LinkedIn profile in English. This turned out to be a very successful strategy, and together with contacts through other professors, both in Colombia and abroad, he was very successful in building his social capital. The last time I saw him, he treated me to lunch. “I want to invite you like you invited me so many times.”

Like Álvaro, all the computer engineers that we interviewed were working in their fields after, and some even before, graduation. Their transition proved to be relatively smooth, and, overall, the labor market felt less stressful than studying. Even those without the best grades were working. Their experience in the labor market was not that different from the experience of individuals belonging to the upper class. This, of course, does not imply a complete absence of gaps or difficulties in the process but, rather, a comparative reduction in such challenges.

The law graduates that we interviewed were all working as well and were in a clear process of upward mobility when compared to their parents. They had studied more or in a more prestigious institution, they were earning more, they were accessing better jobs and consumption goods that their parents would have never dreamt of at their age or even today. They were also much better off than their best friends from high school. However, in contrast to the computer engineers, they had felt the weight of their lack of the adequate cultural and social capital to enter some of the most prestigious jobs among young lawyers: private firms. Their experience is very different from their upper-class peers, whose cultural and social capital derived from their upbringing and high school – rather than higher education – played a pivotal role in entering the labor market without any of those barriers. Factors such as bilingualism with a flawless native English accent, appropriate attire, and other forms of cultural alignment, along with influential contacts, made their transitions smoother. Rodrigo, for example, hailing from an affluent background, and having attended a private bilingual school before college, effortlessly joined one of his father’s – a prestigious criminal lawyer – firms. Similarly, Sebastián leveraged connections from his elite bilingual high school to secure a recommendation and contact to enter the firm in which he has been for the last three years.

All but one of the scholarship lawyers we interviewed had avoided entering private firms. His experience, although unique, sheds light on how difficult it is to enter and assimilate into those firms, and why some prefer to steer clear of such environments. Duvan was able to enter a firm despite not meeting the English language requirements, thanks to a recommendation from a former TA who was already working there and who recognized his talent. He describes the working environment as harsh, or classist, akin to Daniel’s perspective. He shared an incident where a colleague, apparently wanting to serve as a cultural guide (Reference LareauLareau, 2015), told him not to wear a suit from a certain middle-priced Colombian store (Arturo Calle), cautioning that he might appear like a doorman.

Duvan does not include his status as an SPP fellow in his CV, as others do, because “firms are very elitist.” He adopts a strategic camouflage, becoming a cultural omnivore to navigate the professional landscape. “I have already learned a lot about restaurants. I have been to Osaki” (an Asian restaurant), he proudly stated. Meanwhile, he is paying for his younger sister to take English classes to spare her from the challenges he faced and urges his parents to enroll her in a private school.

In contrast, all other lower-class lawyers we interviewed either were already working in or aspired to work in the public sector or in labor law. Some came to this conclusion after realizing that the world of prestigious firms, highly coveted at their university, was not fit for them because they did not have the contacts. Others were sure that they wanted to pursue different avenues within the legal profession from the outset.

4.2 Fear of Falling: The Emotions of Social Mobility Resurface

The transition to the labor market marks a moment in which emotions associated to social class and mobility (Reference FriedmanFriedman, 2014, Reference Friedman2016; Reference ReayReay, 2005) once again come to the forefront for graduates from lower-class backgrounds, echoing the emotional landscape experienced when initially entering college. The emotional ambivalence inherent in social mobility resurfaces during this pivotal transition to adulthood. Even those from lower-class background that we might consider successful grapple with stress, fear, anguish, and a sense of urgency, uncertainty, and insecurity. Their experiences are reminiscent of the anxieties depicted in Reference EhrenreichEhrenreich’s (2020) exploration of the professional middle class in the United States. However, in Colombia, a history of precarity and substantial family responsibilities adds an extra burden for lower-class graduates who urgently need to find a stable salary. These negative emotions are particularly pronounced among those like Daniel, who face difficulties in finding employment, leading to a sense of disappointment. In contrast, their upper-class counterparts often lean more toward confidence and tranquility. Moreover, certain working environments evoke feelings of displacement reminiscent of their initial experiences when entering college. These negative emotions coexist with happiness, fulfillment, and personal, family and even community pride stemming from the accomplishment of completing a degree, securing decent jobs, and finally achieving their goals.

Jefferson remembered his last semesters at the university as tinged with anguish. In contrast to his more privileged upper-class peers, he refrained from taking on practicums or part-time jobs during his college years. He felt he had to concentrate on his studies to excel and avoid any risk of losing his scholarship. Thus, despite being one of the best students of his generation, he felt very insecure and anguished as he approached graduation. He remembered thinking:

He was considering leaving the field of law when a former TA contacted him to work with another professor at the university. Recognizing his exceptional abilities, this professor, in turn, encouraged him to pursue a career as a law clerk with aspirations of becoming a judge one day. The professor went on to recommend Jefferson, who subsequently took a test and passed an interview, and was selected for the position. He was extremely happy with his new job, for how stimulating it was and because a very good salary allowed him to take care of his extended family (mom, sister, partner, and baby). With his monthly earning of US$1,500, he now feels like a “multimillionaire.”

We see the emotional ambivalence in Jefferson’s words. Pride and fulfillment intertwine with feelings of being overwhelmed by responsibilities. In his work environment, Jefferson feels valued, respected, and challenged. Yet, informal interactions are sometimes uncomfortable in an upper-class environment. In his own words:

Jefferson’s experience and emotional ambivalences contrast highly with those of Federico, an upper-class law graduate who described these three years after graduation as “the best in my life.” He contrasts his experience after graduation with the academic challenges he faced at university. Studying was hard. Law is very hierarchical. He took an extra year to finish slowly. He wanted to think. He had doubts about becoming a lawyer. In contrast, finding a job felt easier. He rejected a job offer from his dad. He did not want help. Upon returning from a graduation trip vacation, he swiftly found a job. While he received offers from law firms, he was hesitant about the prospect of being “exploited” there. Instead, he decided to apply for a job he found through the university employment service. He entered an international company that provides subscribed users legal information and is now working as a business manager there. In contrast to Jefferson, Federico feels at complete ease with his co-workers. In his words,

Federico’s story introduces a nuanced perspective to Reference KhanKhan’s (2011) definition of privilege. While privilege can indeed be manifested in carrying oneself with ease, it also encompasses the freedom to doubt, fail, transition to adulthood without feeling fear of falling or losing it all.

4.3 “You Never Know What Might Happen”: Economic Insecurity and Rebusque

While emotional ambivalences associated to mobility are difficult to cope with, they drive lower-class students to be resourceful and to seek additional sources of income (from investments to side jobs). This, resourcefulness is an asset they bring to the labor market and that some employers recognize. The feelings of uncertainty are even more present among those who have not found a good job yet. In the interviewees’ words, “you can go to bed and not have a job the next day,” “you have to have many different plans,” or perhaps more clearly, “you have to try and get ahead in life” (“A uno le toca rebuscarse mucho en la vida”).

Rebusque, in Spanish, is a very interesting and almost untranslatable term, used to illustrate the various ways most lower-class individuals make ends meet. They engage in diverse jobs, from cleaning and selling one day, to pursuing various side gigs. It is interesting to see these graduates inheriting this resourceful mindset from their families and implementing it in their adult lives. For example, we found a graduate investing in Bitcoin. Jefferson, while working as a judge, invested in a barber shop with an old friend from high school who was never able to continue studying. Daniel, as we saw, invests in his family business. This emerged as an unexpected finding during fieldwork and it consistently surfaced in interview after interview. The ability of lower-class background students to actively search for additional investments and sources of income, even if driven by a fear of falling or losing it all, adds a layer of resilience. While this coping mechanism may heighten psychological pressures and lead to burnout, it is crucial to underscore the advantages they bring to the labor market. As Reference StreibStreib (2017) has pointed out, we know more about social immobility than about social mobility and we know much less about the characteristics of the upwardly mobile. Recognizing and acknowledging this resourcefulness could position it as a valuable asset for firms seeking to identify unique strengths during job interviews.

4.4 Family Responsibilities

Ana Sofía, from the opening vignette, is one of the best students of her generation. She finished her BA in political science and an MA in sociology in record time. Her MA thesis earned an undisputed top grade of 5 (A+). Her employers praise her abilities as a highly qualified analyst and writer, with organizational skills and unmatchable ethical standards. She has worked as a researcher for two professors in short-term positions, but now holds a relatively stable job as a researcher with one of them. Because she graduated during the pandemic, working from home became a standard, which is comfortable for her because she lives in Bosa, a working-class locality in Bogotá with lots of transportation problems, so she saves money and time working from home. Besides, she can use the time she saves for side projects.

As mentioned earlier, she needs the money as she is the main provider for her household. Her boyfriend improvised a home office for her, as there was no room for one. She rents the first floor of a house for her mother, grandmother, a sister with a disability, and a teenage brother. Her mother is an informal domestic worker and hairdresser but is currently (at the time of our last interview) unable to work because of some surgery she had had. Although professors, including myself, told her she could go on to do a PhD wherever she wants, she has to stay for now. Once she buys a house for them, big enough so they can rent one of the rooms or set up a salon for her mom to work from home, she will be freer to leave if she still wants to.

Ana Sofía’s story is one of social mobility in terms of education. Yet her narrative highlights the role of family responsibilities as a burden for many upwardly mobile youngsters, especially for women, who besides economic responsibilities tend to have more direct care responsibilities. For the most part, our upwardly mobile youngsters become the main providers of their households at a young age, paying for their siblings’ education, their grandma’s house repairs, or their mothers’ healthcare needs. Symbolically, they gain status in their families, who are proud of their achievements. These family responsibilities may, however, slow down or hinder their individual mobility. The urgency to produce becomes substantial once they graduate, and they sometimes have to forgo interesting, yet precarious, jobs opportunities or opportunities to study abroad that their more privileged friends can seize more easily. On the positive side, these individuals do not experience the same sense of dislocation from their community, a phenomenon described in studies of upward mobility in the North (Reference BourdieuBourdieu, 2007; Reference FriedmanFriedman, 2016).

4.5 The Disappointed

Like Daniel, we found other disappointed scholarship graduates facing lower-quality and more elitist labor markets. What we found to be behind this disappointment is the distance between expectations from a private elite university and the reality after graduation. Based on the longitudinal data, we were able to observe how some lower-class background students were compelled to adjust their expectations. One of them was Sara, the supermotivated business administration major who had increased her expectations and wanted to be a “successful businesswoman,” in her second year of college.

When we interviewed Sara for the second time, her aspirations had changed considerably. Her dreams of being an entrepreneur had dwindled, during the pandemic, to simply finding a stable job. She graduated and left for the United States to improve her English while working as an au pair. She came back in the middle of the pandemic and found it extremely difficult to find a job. She describes those times as times of

Although the pandemic might have made the process more difficult, especially for some labor markets, none of the upper-class students mentioned these types of extreme difficulties. Sara’s lack of social and economic capital did not help her find a job in what she wanted as an entrepreneur. Upon her return from the States, and following several unsuccessful jobs, a strong family tie proved to be instrumental.

As the main provider at home together with her father, Sara needs a stable income. Her family ties were crucial in getting this job, but her story is very different from stories of upper-class graduates in business administration who can become entrepreneurs on their own or work within their family businesses. As Daniel put it, sometimes merit is not enough. And Sara’s story is not the most extreme. Although she dreads the prospect of another job search, she managed to secure a stable and challenging position. Many in even lower-quality job markets, like in the social sciences, were still trying to find work. In these fields, lower salaries and short-term contracts increased feelings of disappointment.

Merit and effort are not always related to the positive outcomes students dreamt of when they entered an elite college. This varies a lot by career choice. Entering a harsh labor market, with lower salaries and less opportunities in general, where social and cultural capital carries more weight for securing better prospects, has been extremely difficult. In the process, the dreamers became quite disappointed.

4.6 Social Capital

In this final subsection, I want to go back to one of the inspirational questions of this research, that is, to what extent can social networks help the underprivileged attain social mobility.

Our interviews show that networks are indeed crucial in finding jobs. They are both crucial for the upper classes, who often rely on homogeneous social capital acquired before college, accumulated in the family, or in elite high schools where they form most of their lifetime friendships, and crucial for first-generation students who acquire useful social capital in college, especially those facing more elitist or lower-quality labor markets in which networks can make the difference. For example, Diana, an economics major, who formed more upper-class friendships during college, found her current job at a public opinion and consultancy firm because an upper-class friend, who already worked there and had contacts within the company, recommended her and helped her prepare for the selection process. In other cases, very weak ties were also useful. In the case of Andrés, another economics major, it was a much weaker, also upper-class, tie who helped him once. He was at a job interview for a startup, and he recognized the interviewer and owner of the startup. The interviewer remembered that they had taken classes together, and Andrés thinks that this made him choose him over other candidates.

Yet, as evident in most of the stories earlier, the most directly useful heterogeneous ties were not classmates, but professors and teaching assistants. These heterogeneous ties combine two features: more resources and close knowledge of the abilities and needs of their students. Had it not been for his TA and his professor, Jefferson would have quit law, in a critical juncture of needing to find a job to provide for his family.

This willingness to help from well-resourced cross-class ties (professors) is crucial factor that is often under-analyzed in the literature. Existing research tends to place significant trust in the mere circulation of opportunities and information. In contrast, social capital literature places more emphasis on weak cross-class ties to transfer nonredundant information and resources including job opportunities (Reference GranovetterGranovetter, 1977). Contrary to the prevailing notion, we observe that a certain level of closeness and direct intervention significantly facilitates the gate opening needed for social mobility. Close ties within the same class possess a dual strength: being part of a heterogeneous environment, they have access to opportunities and information they can pass on to friends. Simultaneously, due to the proximity of these relationships, they are more intimately aware of the challenges their friends face, and of how to help them. Thus, in many cases, it was other scholarship students who helped their friends find jobs either by recommending them, or passing on job offers, or by helping them with their CVs and interview preparation while they gave specific advice and emotional counseling from the perspective of a peer who went through similar experiences.

If direct weak and close ties are important for gate opening, exposure too is an important mechanism. Being in an environment with higher expectations elevates the expectations for everyone involved. However, as we observed, this dynamic can sometimes generate frustrations, as exemplified in the case of Sara. The willingness to purse MA programs in prestigious universities abroad is an example of these higher aspirations among scholarship students, as inspired by their more upper-class peers and their professors. Interestingly, however, such inspiration also derives from their same-class ties. Many mentioned hardworking successful scholarship students as their mentors or role models. For example, Luisa got her inspiration to study programming on her own from another scholarship student, and this led her to a much better job opportunity. Jefferson, in turn, mentioned being very moved by his friend’s, a fellow pilo, professional accomplishments, especially the fact that he was building a house for his family in his hometown.

Table 3 summarizes these findings.

4.7 Conclusion

In contrast to its role in facilitating access the university, the SPP program did not directly help students in the labor market. In this regard, the program focused more on fostering equality of opportunity rather than ensuring equality of outcomes. By trusting the intelligence and resilience of these students, it opened a closed door and let them in. This shows, without doubt, the power of opportunity. A majority of these students have successfully completed their education, and many of them are currently undergoing various processes of upward mobility in relation to their past and their parents. However, the labor market door is not equally opened to all. While a degree from a prestigious institution holds significant importance, its weight depends on the labor market. Additionally, in different professions, the significance of social and cultural capital in securing employment differs. First-generation students face more challenges in low-quality and elitist labor markets, where cultural and social capital play a more significant role.

Regarding social capital, a diversified network that combines heterogeneous and homogeneous, and weak and close, ties seems to be the most helpful for those in need of them to enter these types of more difficult job markets.