According to new analysis of every high school student who took the SAT in a recent year, most low-income students who ranked in the top of their class in test scores did not even apply to the nation’s best colleges.

Many economists blame low levels of mobility common with poverty in this country on this issue.

In the last year, only 34 percent of high-achieving high school seniors who placed in the bottom fourth of income distribution attended one of the country’s more selective colleges. This number is a drastic undercut when compared to the 78 percent of students from the highest income quartile who comprise these schools.

The negative effects of income inequality are nearly as widespread and understood as the problem itself, but the results of this analysis indicate the next frontier of challenges facing young adults in this country.

Being denied the same educational opportunities simply for economic reasons is an appalling problem restricting the success of some of this country’s brightest youth.

According to the study, many top low-income students are unaware of the amount of financial aid available to help them attend some of the country’s best schools. For many who wish to continue their education, they eventually attend community colleges or other four year institutions closer to home.

But while attending a smaller college presents a number of promising outlooks for these students, this overall problem also is detrimental to the country’s larger, and more selective, schools.

This is much like the race-based restrictions that were lessened by affirmative action, prolonging a system that doesn’t prevent outcasting a certain group in a setback for our nation’s top schools.

Just as important as it once was to promote creating a more racially-diverse setting for students in the 1960s, establishing an environment that adheres to students from all economic backgrounds should be a top priority for these institutions.

Although the weakened levels of mobility associated with this problem makes it more difficult for colleges to find new ways to encourage these students to apply for school, more consideration should be taken by high school counselors when assisting these students in the application process.

By encouraging these downtrodden students to look into the number of financial aid options available to help them succeed, many of the economic setbacks they have been forced to live with might become nonexistent in the future.

Widening economic inequality will be a problem for years to come, but the number of opportunities we offer our youth shouldn’t become another we are forced to fight.

We should put more emphasis on helping our nation’s youth, and make the notion of receiving an education from a top school a feasible goal for all.