How was Jenny poor?

[deleted]

Scholarship, duh...

Jenny was from a lower-class background. Radcliff was possible because some kind upper-class person of means established schscholarship. She was smart and knew some of the ways to advance her social status. She still had baggage though and hadn't smoothed all of her lower-class edges. The constant swearing was a tell-tale sign. Young women from good backgrounds didn't swear excessively like she did.

Harvard (and what was then a separate but related institution called Radcliffe, which still exists but is no longer listed as such on undergraduate diplomas) has needs-blind admission; if you are accepted, your costs are guaranteed through a combination of scholarships, loans and work-study jobs.