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And RPU students are more likely to be first generation college students like I was, students of color, low-income students, veterans and adults balancing work and family while going to school.
RPU 的学生通常都是像我这种第一代大学生、有色人种学生、低收入户学生、退伍军人，以及在工作和家庭中寻找平衡还要去上学的成人。
And RPU students often don't have the test scores required to get into a highly rejective college.
RPU 学生通常达不到进入那些高拒绝性大学所需要的成绩标准。
Not because they aren't capable, but because they weren't given the same advantages as other students.
不是因为他们能力不足，而是因为他们没有和其他学生相同的优势。
My mother was a brilliant woman who had an eighth-grade education, and she died when she was just 43 years old of a totally preventable asthma attack because she lived in a rural, remote community and lacked access to health care.
我母亲是个很出色的女性，教育程度只到八年级，她四十三岁时就过世了，死因是完全可以避免的气喘发作，因为她住在乡村偏远的社区，无法取得健康照护。
I grew up in poverty and my test scores were lower because I prepared for the SATs by showing up on test day with a sharpened number-two pencil and a calculator, rather than taking expensive test prep courses.
我的成长过程很贫穷，我的成绩很差，因为我准备 SAT 考试的方式是在考试当天出席，带着一枝削尖的二号铅笔和一台计算机，而不是参加昂贵的补习课程。
People sometimes talk about regional public universities in negative ways by calling some “the 13th grade” or saying, “anyone can get in,” as if that’s a bad thing.
有时大家会把区域性公立大学讲得很负面，把其中一些称为「十三年级」，或说「谁都能就读」，说得好像这是坏事一样，
Or saying they're not real universities.
或说它们不是真的大学。
But shouldn't colleges be judged by how many people they include and raise to the same level of academic excellence rather than by how many people they exclude?
但评断大学的标准不是应该是它们接纳了多少人，并协助他们提升到相同的学术水平，而不是排除了多少人吗？
By how well they address the pressing challenges facing their local communities?
根据它们如何处理当地社区面临的迫切难题来评断？
Take Adams State University in southern rural Colorado.
以位在科罗拉多州南部乡村的亚当斯州立大学为例。
Thirty-eight percent of the university’s students are Latinx and half are first in their families to go to college.
该大学的学生有 38% 是拉丁裔，半数是家中第一个上大学的人。
This is Colorado's most affordable university, and it's one of just a few in the entire country to offer graduate degrees to students who are currently incarcerated and working to change their lives.
这是科罗拉多州最平价的大学，全国只有它和少数几间大学提供研究所学位给正在监禁中的人，让他们能努力改变他们的人生。
It contributes 83.5 million dollars each year to the local economy.
每年，它对当地经济的贡献是八千三百五十万美金。
Regional public universities like Adams State University generate more upward mobility than any other type of college.
像亚当斯州立大学这种区域性公立大学产生的向上动能，比任何其他类型的大学都还要高。
But you'll never find it on a list of America's most prestigious universities.
但你永远不会看到它出现在美国最有名望的大学清单上。
And it doesn't get the funding it deserves.
它也没有得到它应得的资金。
Ironically, the colleges that already have the largest endowments tend to receive the biggest charitable donations.
讽刺的是，已经拥有最多资助的大学通常会收到最多慈善捐赠。
Recently, Michael Bloomberg gave Johns Hopkins University a donation of 1.8 billion dollars.
最近，麦可?彭博给了约翰?霍普金斯大学十八亿美金的捐款。
And this is an incredibly generous gift.
这份礼物实在太慷慨。
But before the donation, Johns Hopkins had an endowment of 3.8 billion dollars, and it rejects 89 percent of all students who apply.
但在他捐款之前，约翰?霍普金斯大学就已经得到三十八亿美金的资助，且申请进入该校的学生有 89% 被拒绝了。
By contrast, Adams State University, which prides itself by accepting the top 99 percent of students, has an endowment of just 63,000 dollars.
相对的，亚当斯州立大学以接受前 99% 的申请者为荣，但只得到六万三千美金的资助。
Not million, not billion, 63,000 dollars.
不是百万，不是十亿，六万三千美金。
Shockingly low.
低得惊人。
Now, Johns Hopkins produces vital research.
约翰?霍普金斯大学做的研究十分重要。
But let's imagine, if Michael Bloomberg had spread that donation across the 430 RPUs in the country, each would have received four million dollars.
但咱们想象一下，如果麦可?彭博把那笔捐款分给全国四百三十间 RPU，每一间就能得到四百万美金。
Now imagine if your net worth went from being 63,000 dollars to four million dollars.
再想象一下你的净值从六万三千美金变成四百万美金。
Your life would be pretty different, wouldn't it?
你的人生会有很大的不同，对吧？
