Tootie's parents
Was she wealthy or middle class? What did her parents do for a living? Didn't Natalie briefly date her brother or cousin?
shareI think her parents were doctors, and a little snobby. I believe there was one episode when they wanted to take her out of Eastland and send her to a "better" school.
Also, most likely all students going there had to be somewhat wealthy to afford the tuition and other fees.
I’m pretty sure all the girls were rich.
shareJo's parents were not but Jo was there on Scholarship--first undisclosed. and then from the Warner Foundation. She was there to add economic diversity (like Tootie was to add racial diversity) to the cast.
They tried to add disability diversity w Cousin Gerri, but the writers didn't really understand 'special education' only covered the public schools. ADA (coming in 1990) would extend to Eastland---THEN Gerri etc could have been enrolled also at Eastland.