Last April, Anthony White, a 29-year-old Marine Corps veteran, told a room of California state legislators how he had survived a semester as a cash-strapped student at MiraCosta College: He slept in his car.

Homelessness among American college students has become an increasingly visible problem, with those who attend community colleges hit the hardest. Many students are spending nights on friends’ couches or sleeping in cars. Advocates are pushing for solutions, including safer places to park overnight.

As North Carolina's community colleges struggle to raise enrollment, they are looking to recruit more of today's students—individuals older than 25. The push could help lift those students out of poverty and boost the state's workforce—but only if colleges get it right, advocates say.

Just getting them in the classroom isn’t enough. Fewer than a quarter of nontraditional, part-time students graduate, and many blame the structure of higher education.