Does Money Buy Degrees?

I don't know that the following would apply as much here in Canada... but I also don't know that it wouldn't!

Thanks to Paul Krugman's most excellent blog, I saw this article about the results of a study that tracked a set of American students from Grade 8 right through until they were in the workforce (a 12-year period). As you can see from the write-up (and colourful graph) at that link, the income level of the families involved influenced the amount of education achieved by the test group members more than their scholastic ability as measured at the Grade 8 level. Most shocking of all, as the article points out, is that a higher percentage (30%) of high-income students with Grade 8 marks in the bottom 25% got at least a B.A. than did low-income students with Grade 8 marks in the top quartile (only 29% did so)! In other words, it's apparently more important in the U.S. to be rich than to be smart (or work hard, or whatever other factors may contribute to the achievement of good marks).

I certainly hope it's not as bad as that here in Canada. You can't prove anything anecdotally, of course, but I'd fit squarely in the 29% group myself (high marks in Grade 8 but very low family income). As a Math tutor, I can't help but wonder if I'm contributing to any such imbalance, as of course only people who can afford to pay for a tutor are able to provide that bit of assistance to their kids. Does that just exacerbate the situation, I wonder?