In the wake of Operation Varsity Blues, higher education must grapple with questions about the meaning of merit, the role that wealth plays in the admissions process, and how selective colleges can enroll more low-income and first-generation students. 

The admissions scandal shook the public’s trust. At a recent national conference, enrollment leaders discussed winning it back.

It’s quiet in the spare bedroom of Maria Garcia’s Antioch duplex as she sits down to study. Garcia, 24, will spend the day on her laptop, poring over a lesson on encrypted communication. It’s one more step on a path she hopes will lead to a cybersecurity certificate from Calbright College—California’s new online community college—and a job that pays a living wage.

But despite her swift progress, Garcia is troubled. California’s first-in-the-nation online community college now has 450 students—with no full-time faculty, no CEO, and no political champion. What will Calbright's future be?