A Weight Carried from Birth

The future of many young people in Italy is predetermined from birth, and decided by the financial circumstances of their parents.

A student wearing headphones studies on a laptop in a campus hall, with others at tables behind him

There are students who spend their afternoons in the library, daydreaming about being in a university classroom, with everything it takes to make it happen — including the grades. But when the bills are tallied up around the family kitchen table at the end of the month, a university education can simply seem unaffordable.

The reality for a low-income family in Italy is that it takes 5 generations to climb up to an average level of income. More than a century of waiting to get to the middle. The OECD describes this as a "broken social elevator."

Five generations is a long period of time, passing from Gen Beta back to their great-great-grandparents. Without a doubt there was brilliant talent somewhere along the line that simply faded away as they weren't offered the right opportunities.

Perhaps this weight was carried from birth, hanging in the words repeated at the kitchen table at the end of the month: "We can't afford it." This is how the silent doubt that it isn't financially viable creeps in, holding their hand back from submitting an application.

15%

ONLY 15 OUT OF 100 YOUNG PEOPLE WHOSE PARENTS HAVE A LOW LEVEL OF EDUCATION ATTEND UNIVERSITY

66%

2 OUT OF 3 YOUNG PEOPLE WHOSE PARENTS ARE GRADUATES ATTEND UNIVERSITY

NUNZIO QUARANTA

Bocconi, Class of 2021

The 5:45 Bus to the Stars

He would wake up at 5:45 and catch two buses every morning to get to his high school in central Bari. Education has always been about going the extra mile for Nunzio, so the 900km separating him from Bocconi didn't faze him. "If you aim for the moon, the worst-case scenario is that you'll reach the stars." With his favorite saying and through the help of a scholarship, Nunzio earned his degree and now has an international career. His success is shared with others. He became a role model for his sister, who joined him in Milan, and founded an association to nurture talent in his hometown.