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For my undergraduate studies, I went to Salve Regina in Newport, RI; so although, I don't have much experience at Quinnipiac, I know the demographics of both universities are very similar. In many cases, you can readily tell which students are the 'haves' and the 'have nots.' At both Salve and Quinnipiac, you can visibly see much material culture among students. This is generally communicated through fashion brands (Lulu Lemon, Free People, Louis Vuitton, Cartier, etc). Additionally, this typically is communicated through the type of cars you drive. I remember during my undergrad there was two types of cars you would see on campus: a new 2020 luxury car, or a 2007 'old' car. Although, from my personal experience, it did not matter to me which car you had. As I look back and reflect on my own experience at the two universities, I don't think students at the college level tend to care all that much anymore on wether you were leggings from WalMart or leggings from Lulu Lemon.

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For my undergrad, I went to Marist College in New York State; while I don't have a lot of experience with Quinnipiac's student culture yet, like Renee said in her post, the cultures of the two schools are very similar. Material culture is the most readily-visible, so that is where my mind goes first to examine the differences between the "haves" and the "have-nots." Marist is a very monocultural school, almost entirely comprised of upper-middle-class white kids from Connecticut, New York (Long Island), and New Jersey. Students showed off their social status through brand names, like Lululemon, NorthFace, Vineyard Vines, Chanel. I specifically remember during my Intro to Advertising class, our final project was to design and create a commercial for the newest Audi model that had just been released a month before. The group who got the highest score just filmed themselves driving around in one of the members' new Audi - a gift from their parents, of course. In my experience, though, it didn't really matter what kind of car you drove or if your black workout pants were Lululemon or Target brand. At Marist, and in the wider world too, material possessions don't "make or break" your relationships with people worth knowing.

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Quinnipiac as everyone knows it is a school for the “rich white kids.”  I came from UConn, which to me was much more diverse and students' socio-economics varied widely. When I tell people that I go to Quinnipiac for my graduate degree they think that I’m rich, which is funny because one of the many reasons I really liked this MAT program is that most of our tuition is paid for, BUT we have to work for it….. the money doesn’t come from mommy and daddy like everyone thinks it does. I am a full-time student, working a full-time internship while also working a part-time job.  I am independently financing my graduate studies and I know other people in my cohort are doing the same. I don’t wear Lulu lemon, or have an LV purse. I do have an iPhone and a Mac computer that I paid for myself. I think that being a part of Quinnipiac class status is very apparent, but I know that most people do not judge me once they actually know me. Clearly, those in graduate programs are hard workers, going above and beyond in order to succeed in the future. Quinnipiac University has a lot of success stories and many great teachers have been in the same shoes as me.

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I was at a loss trying to answer these questions. I did not attend Quinnipiac undergrad; I went to Providence College in Rhode Island. Additionally, I am not from Connecticut, I am from Long Island. In this program, we attend classes at night at the North Haven Campus, which I have only been to a handful of times due to the pandemic. Because of these things, I do not feel connected to Quinnipiac in any way. I still do not know what the culture is like here because I have not been exposed to it. I have however been exposed to the way that Quinnipiac is thought of by others. Monika described QU as a school for “rich white kids,” which is something I have heard many times at this point even though I haven’t really seen it for myself. I will however say that having grown up on Long Island and attended private schools for the past eight years, I have seen my fair share of class status being made clear through material possessions. As early as high school, my classmates were driving luxury cars and wearing expensive clothes, a representation of class status I have picked up on since then. I feel like people are often put into a box according to what car they drive or clothes they wear. These things can define a person. It took me too long to realize that these things don’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things. Something I love about the School of Education at Quinnipiac is how passionate everyone is. I only see people connecting on their ideas about school, not what someone is wearing which I think is truly important.

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I would say class status has an impact in each of these areas. The most obvious way this can be seen to me is in my internship. I am interning at the high school that I went to in the town I grew up in. The class status of those in Milford does have some variation, but mainly falls into the middle class to higher middle class range. Because most of the teaches, staff, and students all share a similar social class, their interactions are characteristic of those in their class. However, there are some outliers that are definitely impacted by their differences. This can be seen in things like the clothes worn, laptop used (macbook vs chromebook), and extracurricular activities taken part in. As class status varies among students, their access to resources varies greatly and changes how they act during school everyday. I also believe class status affects QU culture as it is seen among undergrads vs graduate students. From what I have seen, many undergrad students still receive financial support from their parents (as is the norm in New England). However, many graduate students do not receive as much, if any, support from their parents. This impacts social outings, vacations, school supplies, and time constraints. A graduate student may not have time to go out on weekends because they work, while undergraduate students may have a more open schedule if they receive financial support from parents. Obviously, this is NOT universal, but it is a common, marked difference I have observed in the QU community.

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Quinnipiac is a very expensive school for Undergrad, which does not supply a ton of financial aid from my understanding, which that most students who go here probably come from wealthier families. This is in contrast with the MAT program since the internship you are required to complete pays for your tuition. Most of the people I've had the privilege of meeting through this program are not super wealthy, live with their parents, work(ed) in order to live on their own and pay their own bills. I feel like this brings a mutual understanding and respect to the people in the program. For example, the girls in our cohort often go to trivia on Wednesday nights. There are times though where some of us can't afford to go or may have to look at the prices before ordering. Everyone though is always understanding and offers help anyway they can. I think the reason that our cohort is as close as we are is because we have been able to build a community and friendship that started with the common theme as future teachers and got better because we all respect each other for what we bring into the classroom (hardworking, positivity, humor, responsibility, trust, etc.). The fact that I did not attend QU as an undergrad student makes it hard for me to feel like I really connect with the college because I don't live there, I don't know all the local spots, I don't go to athletic events, etc. I think the real connection I've made though is to my peers and professors who are able to relate to this feeling as well as relating through teaching (and learning) during the pandemic. I know the main question revolved around class status but I don't think that plays a huge role in the connections our cohort has made since we all want to be teachers and no one gets into teaching for the money.

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Like some of my classmates have mentioned, Quinnipiac seems to be a school where most students are from upper or middle class families. I agree with my classmates that the clothes that people wear or the cars that they drive show the social class that a lot of students belong to. I also think that the activities that students participate in on the weekends or after class reflect their social class. I notice that many students stop at Starbucks or Dunkin before class, and that they go out to eat or pay for activities to do with their friends. For upper or middle class students who get an allowance from their parents or work a summer job that does not go to paying bills, these activities might be easy to pay for and participate in, but working- or lower-class students may have to forgo these activities because they cannot afford to have dinner out or pay the cover fee on a party.

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This is a really interesting question! I would like to start off by saying I am not a materialistic person; I think Lulu Lemon is the biggest scam, $100 for a pair of leggings, come on. I have only been at Quinnipiac for a semester and a half, and have rarely interacted with people outside of my cohort. So, I have not experienced the haves and the have nots first hand. Although based on reputation, I imagine Quinnipiac being similar to my undergrad school Brandeis University. At Brandeis there was a clear divide between those who pay full tuition ($70,000 a year) and those who have financial aid. Those who paid full tuition drove G Wagons, Bugattis, Ferraris, oh and our school had Tesla charging stations. They were decked out in designer brands, from hats and sunglasses down to shoes. I guess I would consider these the “haves,” and the “have nots” would be the rest of us, who just wear what we wear and are grateful we have a car to get us from point a to point b. This is determined because of our societal norms of placing an emphasis on expensive or designer brands. It’s communicated through television shows and advertisements, and is upheld by society.

Class status does not affect my QU culture when interacting on and off campus. At my internship site I act differently when I am around the principal compared to teachers compared to students. This is not because of class, but because of my level of familiarity with them. I will never treat a student differently because they go to Yale, I couldn't care less about what college you go to and do NOT place Ivy League schools on a pedestal. The same goes with undergraduate versus graduate students and 5 semester MAT versus undergrad MAT. I do not think these are associated with social class. Roughly 70% of college students take out loans, so we are all in the same boat. And even if you go to an expensive college like Yale, you could be in thousands and thousands of debt. It’s all a facade.

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Moving to the east coast from the mid-west was a huge eye opener for me freshmen year. As I walked around campus, I saw lots of Lululemon, Vineyard Vines, and very expensive cars. In my hometown, that was VERY uncommon. I was fortunate enough to receive an athletic scholarship at Quinnipiac for my undergrad but knowing how much tuition costs for others, never in a million years could my family afford that without being in debt for the rest of my life. The East Coast definitely has a "preppy" reputation and after coming to college, I understand why people in the midwest would say that.

Class status never really crossed my mind during my undergrad. I spent majority of my time with my team so I never really felt like I was "out of place" regarding class even though I knew other student around me were very wealthy. I personally have never felt a certain way about anything regarding class. Money isn't usually a topic of conversation when I meet someone new. I do notice a difference on my social media from the people I follow from home and the people I follow from the east coast... the activities, clothing, vacations... they are MUCH different.

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I went to QU for undergrad and I knew going into college that Quinnipiac is a more "privileged" school meaning the people go there are wealthy and people will have a lot of material things. Ever since my first week of school, I knew who the haves and the have nots were. You could tell who was able to afford more expensive items and who couldn't (which is totally okay!). So many students had BMW's, Audi's, Mercedes, etc. and they flaunted their high priced cars. Other people flaunted their personal belongings like their fancy Louis Vuitton bags, Michael Kors, watches/jewelry, brand new shoes/clothes, etc. Personally going into college knowing this information, I wanted to make sure that I would fit in, so I bought myself a new North Face jacket and backpack, and new Nike sneakers. I know material things don't matter, but I wanted to fit into the school culture and climate. The school culture and norms are definitely determined by the types of people that attend QU and the fact that it is a private and higher costing school. If you compare QU to other private, high cost schools we are the same, but in comparison to a CT public college, we are very different.

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I can't really say that I've had a whole lot of experience with people within the QU culture. While I do realize it is considered a school with a generally wealthier student body (I would assume partly due to the higher costs of attendance as a private university), I have not noticed a large division of social/wealth class within the student body of have and have nots, but then again I don't often examine material indicators like clothing brands. Growing up, I had both friends who were much wealthier than my family and friends who were less wealthy than my family. Because of this,  I've never really cared about brand names because I knew that all that mattered was if you had what you needed and it worked for you.

While I'd like to think that all of us (myself included) do not care about wealth or class status, something I've noticed about myself and academic culture as a whole is a tendency toward elitism. This is usually less about being poor, but rather about being smart. As an undergrad, I was very involved in my public university's honors program and during my time there I would sometimes become something that I detested in a first impression with others: pretentious. I found that I was welcomed more warmly and accepted more quickly among both professors and my classmates when I used bigger words and gave quicker answers- a habit that I'm sure my classmates could confirm persists to my classroom behavior now. In academia we like to consider ourselves a meritocracy, whereby we value all ideas and input as long as they are well-founded and evidence-backed regardless of background. But something I've noticed both in myself and in every college culture I've experienced is that we are rather quick to make certain groups the butt of our jokes, particularly more conservative, "red"-leaning, rural, often Southern, less educated communities. Education is an opportunity and a privilege, and as such we should not be putting down anybody else just because they haven't had access to it or have been educated differently. Though it's hard to listen to things you don't agree with, the first step to reaching a compromise is to listen to the other side to understand where they're coming from and how you might find some overlap between your beliefs/values and theirs. Our "elite" status as graduate students of a well respected private university from a fairly well-off "preppy" state should be something we remain aware of in our interactions with students, parents, and communities at large, even if we don't feel we don't fit what we think the QU mold is.

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Confession: my main reason for selecting QU's MAT program was because most of our tuition is covered through internship meaning I wouldn't have to take on any  additional student loans. Avoiding more debt is certainly an issue of class seeing as I had to take on student loans in the first place. Considering that the pandemic has changed the on-campus experience, I hardly feel connected to Quinnipiac as a graduate student and I don't know anything at all about QU culture. But as Kim pointed out, based on costs, QU's population is likely from an upper/upper middle class background. However, I do feel connected to the SOE philosophy and our professors' genuine passion for teaching so this makes me feel like I made the right choice for grad programs in teaching. I also have heard teachers at my internship school mention how great QU's interns are so the SOE has established a good reputation there. All students at my internship school receive free breakfast and lunch which is a reflection of the greater community. We also have snacks available for students who don't bring one from home. While I don't know why students don't have a snack, I do know that I often bring snacks for the same students which might indicate an inability to afford snack. I frequently think about how lucky I am to be able to bring my allergen friendly lunch with me when many of my students are not able to do the same. Obviously, the connection between good nutrition and performance has been established. However, that doesn't mean that students have the means to get the nutrition they need. I'm glad our school provides breakfast and lunch but it often isn't enough.

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I didn't go to Quinnipiac for undergrad, but I am from New Haven, so I have always kinda new a bit about what Quinnipiac was about. Even now, as a graduate student, I can only experience Quinnipiac peripherally, since the time I have on campus is limited to classes, but from what I have seen, Quinnipiac is fairly similar to Drew University, where I went to college. The feel that I've always had from Quinnipiac was that of having privilege; Quinnipiac university was a fairly prestigious school, and not everyone could get in. As a Connecticut local, when many of my friends were applying to local schools, Quinnipiac was seen as on the higher end, both in terms of pure cost and in terms of academic performance required. It's in a nice area and has a beautiful campus. Quinnipiac is a school for those who have, and from what I've seen thus far, this stands true. From the houses I've seen on campus, to the cars, to just the overall feel, the impression that I get from Quinnipiac, though unspoken, is that Quinnipiac is for those of fairly high privilege and social class. However, Since I do not spend too much time on campus, I don't really get to experience this and as such my understanding of how privilege is communicated is fairly limited to my extremely few interactions with undergrad students. It is an interesting juxtaposition however, for one of the key reasons why I am attending this program, which was that the internships cut out a sizable part of the cost of the program.

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Having grown up in Connecticut, I was familiar with Quinnipiac as it came time to start looking for where I wanted to go to undergrad. I was not very aware of the cultural and class dynamics here until I started to hear stories from friends that ended up coming here for college. People playing fast and loose with the rules, thinking they didn't apply to them due to their privilege was a common theme, whether that was crashing their fancy new cars and not caring or shirking their schoolwork because they had connections in high up places here and knowing they wouldn't get kicked out. Some of these may have been embellished by my friends or guessed at with limited knowledge of the situation, but the overall "vibe" of the school was like that.

I'd say that this "vibe" is not the case here in the Education program at all, as people tend to get into education because it is their passion, not because it will make money (which is why a lot of those privileged kids were in college in the first place). So, when interacting with people at my internship or around the area, I do not run into them assuming that my classmates or I are any more privileged than one would expect of a graduate student at any other MAT type program. Overall, I think that the ultra-privileged stigma that is associated with QU around the area only is really considered for undergraduate students.

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Having grown up in the City and seeing all walks of life I see Quinnipiac University not necessarily as a place of haves and have nots but rather a reflection of the desire for the middle class to appear more than they are. Private university tuition rates, "designer" clothes, new cars, and other symbol statuses are obvious, however, to someone who knows what true status looks like, all I can say is that some of those at the university believe themselves to be more in an upper class than they truly are, and others are humble and know what is necessary for a better future. This is communicated in the class culture in that many students wear or show up with "status" symbol items, more so in the undergraduate level from what I have seen in compared to the graduate level. I feel due to the maturity difference and the change in goals of graduate students compared to undergraduate along with the way in which their lives are lined up that the need to show different financial status becomes less apparent and rather the importance of individual personalities shows more so. As all my peers have said before, I feel that the idea of QU being a school for the upper middle class and the need to flaunt is more so an undergraduate situation, where maturity isn't at the level of graduate students who are fully adults.

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Reflecting on class status at my internship (Mitchell Shahbazian) 

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Reflecting on class status at my internship (Mitchell Shahbazian) 

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When looking through the slideshow and learning more about class status, I couldn’t help but think about the issue of class status at my internship. From what I understand most students at my internship are either from upper-middle to upper class families with some students from middle class and working class families. Most teachers I work with always complain about how some students do not turn on their camera for our classes on Google Meets. In addition, some teachers even take off participation points for students who do not turn their camera on. Whenever a teacher makes a comment like that to me I mention to them (in a kind, professional manner of course) that those kinds of policies disproportionately hurt students from working class families. For example, some students may be sharing a room with another family member and may be insecure about having that family member on camera. Similarly, I actually had a few students last year who would zoom into class in their bathroom because it was the only quiet place in their house since their living situation was so cramped. My point is, because of disparities in housing among students it makes sense that some students don’t want to turn on their camera and as teachers we should recognize that and not push students to turn on their camera if they do not feel comfortable doing so. However, when I mention this to other teachers they mostly shrug and don’t take what i’m saying seriously. I understand their frustration with the lack of cameras for zoom classes and I think these teachers overall want the best for their students. However, it saddens me to think that there are teachers who are penalizing students or making them feel uncomfortable for not turning on their zoom camera for reasons that are out of the student’s control. It makes me want to be more aware of my biases and think deeper of ways I am not being as equitable as I can be.

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I did not go to QU undergrad and as a student in the Graduate MAT it is hard to identify with the university as a whole due to living off campus and all of our classes taking place off of the main campus.   If it was not for the internship covering most of the cost of tuition I would have attended SCSU not far down the road.  I did go to a big name school for my undergraduate studies and I would not have been able to go without financial aid.  Much like QU my school had a lot of international students and economically well off students that went home for every holiday.  To say that you don't live in the immediate vicinity and can afford to travel in that fashion does bring class status to mind.  In my program not everyone is living on their own and some are staying in their childhood homes.  Though none of us is overly concerned with this component , I'm open to considering that these issues are suppressed due to the pandemic times we live in.   Since I am a late in life career change and have established myself with a home, I am looking forward to a time when I can invite my cohort to my house for a day of yard games pancakes and burgers.  I'm not sure that we would all be willing to do this without feeling judged.  My impression of QU much like that of my peers is that the larger part of the undergraduate student body is well off and/or possibly attending on scholarship.  I know that both hockey teams have ranked in the top 5 in the nation recently and that level of athletic attainment is usually a sign of resource throughout life.  My internship students participate in roaming hockey leagues which costs both time and money to be a member of.   I cannot process spending that type of money for a 12 year old, but this is a way of life for the greater QU community.  This community is nestled within the town of Hamden where there is a clear presentation of HAVES that can provide these resources and HAVE NOTs.  The regional lines of this divide have become visible when school district closures are the result of not being able to meet the air flow requirements of the pandemic at the schools in specific parts of the district. The impact of league participation is made visible by the spectrum of stories told of my students' weekend exploits, much like the vacations of my peers during my undergraduate experience.

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I'm from New Haven, CT and heard about QU and how great of a school it is. At the same time, I didn't want to go because I didn't have the money and it was too close to home (I REALLY wanted to get out of CT). I didn't attend QU for undergrad. I attended Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, PA. F&M is in the city of Lancaster like New Haven. What's interesting is that the campus was very Liberal-Conservative and had MANY students from wealthy families. Two of my hall-mates Freshman year paid tuition in full. Similarly, I know this is the case for many students in undergrad. To be honest, I don't really feel all that connected to QU like some undergrad or graduates do but I feel connected to the other MAT students that I've interacted with and took classes with. For undergrad, I worked two jobs and had financial aid and in grad school I'm a full time grad student, intern and working a part-time job.

In addition, I don't look like everyone else in my program or on campus. I'm constantly aware of my skin color and my socio-economic status and I'm constantly reflecting on where I am and where I've come from. It's interesting because I'm one of few, if not the only, Black student in my program, classes and/or internship. How I interact with other and people in my internship changes and adapts all the time. I'm not quite sure how I feel about all that I'm experiencing. I do know that I had culture shock coming to Amity High because of the classes and amenities offered, like I experienced at F&M. It's hard not to see and notice all of what you don't have or experienced. Moreover, I've dedicated my schooling to educate myself on how other people live and their experiences and I will bring that with me in the classes that I have taught and will teach in the future.

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Like many of my classmates, I too am able to spot class differences and different societal- economic statuses everyday at my internship.  I was fortunate enough to grow up in the same town, and attend school at the same schools as my students.  This really helps me relate to many of my students and understand who they are as individuals on a more personal level.  After all, I played on the same sports fields, ate at the same restaurants, and am a member of the same gym as many of my students.  I know that our town is middle/upper class and the overwhelming majority of my students come from two parent households.  I really enjoyed taking the time to fill out the graphic organizer highlighting the symbols, values, and norms found in our universities culture.   One of the symbols that I think really adds to our cohorts’ culture is the missing emails we never seem to get from the ED office.  So for whatever reason, our cohort seems to get every other email that the other education students get.  This has lead us to develop a culture where we look out for one another and make sure no one is falling behind in our program.