Great post! I think planning ahead could also inadvertently help make retreats and large events more accessible to lower-income students. My thoughts on this are below and are specifically related to events that involve flights that are last second.
This study on Statista (https://www.statista.com/statistics/316376/air-travel-frequency-us-by-income/) found that about 19% of respondents with incomes over $80,000 are frequent flyers, whereas only 3% of respondents with incomes under $40,000 are. Moreover, 32% of the $40,000-and-less responders said they had never flown, whereas only 7% of the $80,000+ group had never flown.
I would also say that I’ve noticed people who have had less opportunity in the past to travel (usually due to having less financial freedom) or are less experienced with attending things like retreats can be more daunted by last-second invitations for flights. Sometimes to the point of not accepting them. A lot of people I know are flustered by the thought of travelling far away or by plane because it’s something they aren’t used to. The thought of last-second packing or navigating an airport is a lot easier if you have practice for it. If a college student had never flown alone or had never flown at all, a last-second invitation by a club at their school might present them with more anxiety than the perceived reward of going.
Since it’s more likely that affluent people will have flown more, while less affluent people would tend to have less exposure to flights, especially last-second flights, these last-minute invitations could be unintentionally making it harder for low-income people to attend. Not because of a lack of funding on EA’s side, but from a lack of allowing people time to acclimate to the idea of doing something they aren’t used to. I think giving ample time for people to process the idea of traveling helps lessen anxiety around committing to a retreat, which would help us recruit and retain more people with less exposure to flying :)
Moreover, giving people time to make funding requests rather than refund requests would also likely be less daunting for people who don’t have much money to pay for flights or other large expenses up front. I think it’s good to keep in mind that there are some people who might be living paycheck to paycheck—especially in student groups—so the expense of a last-second flight, even if you’ll get reimbursed, could be a deterrent.
Great post! I think planning ahead could also inadvertently help make retreats and large events more accessible to lower-income students. My thoughts on this are below and are specifically related to events that involve flights that are last second.
This study on Statista (https://www.statista.com/statistics/316376/air-travel-frequency-us-by-income/) found that about 19% of respondents with incomes over $80,000 are frequent flyers, whereas only 3% of respondents with incomes under $40,000 are. Moreover, 32% of the $40,000-and-less responders said they had never flown, whereas only 7% of the $80,000+ group had never flown.
I would also say that I’ve noticed people who have had less opportunity in the past to travel (usually due to having less financial freedom) or are less experienced with attending things like retreats can be more daunted by last-second invitations for flights. Sometimes to the point of not accepting them. A lot of people I know are flustered by the thought of travelling far away or by plane because it’s something they aren’t used to. The thought of last-second packing or navigating an airport is a lot easier if you have practice for it. If a college student had never flown alone or had never flown at all, a last-second invitation by a club at their school might present them with more anxiety than the perceived reward of going.
Since it’s more likely that affluent people will have flown more, while less affluent people would tend to have less exposure to flights, especially last-second flights, these last-minute invitations could be unintentionally making it harder for low-income people to attend. Not because of a lack of funding on EA’s side, but from a lack of allowing people time to acclimate to the idea of doing something they aren’t used to. I think giving ample time for people to process the idea of traveling helps lessen anxiety around committing to a retreat, which would help us recruit and retain more people with less exposure to flying :)
Moreover, giving people time to make funding requests rather than refund requests would also likely be less daunting for people who don’t have much money to pay for flights or other large expenses up front. I think it’s good to keep in mind that there are some people who might be living paycheck to paycheck—especially in student groups—so the expense of a last-second flight, even if you’ll get reimbursed, could be a deterrent.