But black candidates are more likely to apply to elite universities.
High-achieving poor students, however, are much less likely to apply to elite colleges than their affluent counterparts.
The increase in tuition fees has not greatly influenced students' choices about where to study – if anything it has made them more determined to apply to elite universities.
It turns out that four out of five well-qualified students who apply to elite schools are accepted by at least one.
But Mokades said the data showed school background remained powerful, so that those from lower-performing schools were less likely to apply to elite graduate programmes.
Cowen encouraged my mother and me to apply to elite New York City private schools, and over the next few years, he helped me submit applications and arrange admission interviews.
James Turner, projects and policy director of the trust, said the group was aiming for a school which is "very academically focused" and encouraged pupils to apply for elite universities.
So his parents paid $50 for Alistaire to join 50 other American Indian students this summer, meeting with representatives of Harvard, Stanford and 19 other schools for a crash course on how to apply to elite colleges.
These risks are acute for high-achieving students from low-income families: Caroline M. Hoxby, a Stanford economist, found that they often don't apply to elite colleges and wind up at subpar ones, deeply in debt.
Continental, based in Houston, said the fee would not apply to elite members of its frequent-flier program, those in first- or business-class seats, customers traveling on full-fare economy tickets, or military personnel and their families traveling on official orders.
