There's no doubt that higher education represents a ladder out of poverty; the problem is that the poor and minorities have trouble reaching the first rung. Poor and minority families often have trouble raising the money to send their children to college, and even when they do, these students often aren't prepared for the rigors of college because they attended failing high schools. If, as a society, we're serious about giving people a chance to get out of poverty, we need to focus our higher education resources on the people who need it most. We must give them every opportunity to succeed. That means financial aid should be based on need only and colleges should factor socioeconomic status and race into their admissions decisions. Colleges should also provide remedial help to students who need it: You can't shut people out of the American dream because they were unlucky enough to attend a bad high school.