The United States, while becoming incrementally more progressive, is plagued by issues of social inequality and a lack of social welfare most evident in the poor quality of life experienced by minority communities often living in lower socioeconomic statuses. As policy in the United States regarding social inequality has evolved in the past couple centuries from being explicitly racially motivated to gradually placing less emphasis on racial aspects, an adequate response to social inequality in an effort to develop methods of solvency has become increasingly difficult. For this reason it is especially important for the state of an increasingly diverse nation that social inequality is dealt with, leading us into a deeper discussion on how policy will reflect that need. Within the scope of social inequality the racial wealth gap is evaluated in order to provide an understanding of how policy may aid in the future decline of this wealth gap. The need for policy that ameliorates racial disparity in regards to access to higher education is identified as a potential method for solvency. In this study the needs of communities will be assessed to see what kind of policy should be chosen as it is either developed or amended. The failures of social welfare will also be evaluated to avoid the pitfalls of past legislation along with assessing what kind of policy may be politically and socially appropriate to meet the needs of those experiencing a lack of social equity while maximizing the potential success of said policy. The goal by the end is to develop a recommendation for primarily class-based policy and how race-based policy may best fit alongside it to best provide guidance for the development of social welfare and equity.