At a time when a college diploma is more important than ever to compete in the global economy,only 10% of students from low-income communities across the country who enroll in college are earning a degree. Pair that with the fact that the majority of African American and Latino students graduating high school don’t meet “college readiness” benchmarks (New York City reported last week fewer than a quarter of its students are ready for freshman year) and we have to conclude that public schools aren’t setting up students for long-term success. while creating a culture of high academic expectations is certainly crucial to success, it’s only one piece of the puzzle. There are social, emotional and financial barriers that students from low income communities have to overcome. Getting them to their next graduation day is the challenge we face.

–Jason Bernal, “Getting low income students to college takes more than just academics” on The Hechinger Report