“In our culture, the parents typically stay with one of the children later on in life and I’ve always had the expectation that it’s going to be like that. Whether it’s with me or my sister, we’ll figure that out later,” says Jyot Batra, a 21-year-old college junior whose parents moved from India to the U.S. just before he was born. He says this expectation has made him think twice about his desire to pursue a career in public service, often wondering whether he ought to first go into consulting or finance for a few years to build a financial foundation. For people of color or from low-income backgrounds, he says, what looks like “selling out” by going into finance or consulting may actually be more of an obligation. Batra says that this is something he talks about with his peers at school all the time. “Most people are like, ‘I have been poor my entire life. My parents are still working. I want to go into consulting, make that six-figure salary, and buy my parents a house. And then I'll do what I'm passionate about.’”