Defining ‘Low-Income’

I was interested in the article on Princeton’s efforts to attract more lowincome students, and on the progress it has made (On the Campus, Feb. 3). I was struck, however, by the definition of “low-income” as family income below $65,000 per annum. Median U.S. household income in 2014 was about $53,600; almost 58 percent of American households met Princeton’s definition of low-income.

I wonder how the numbers would look using a different standard — say, the 150 percent of the federal poverty guideline used by the Department of Education, which works out to $36,375 for a family of four.