Senior Luz De Leon usually never leaves her Skidmore College campus for spring break, Thanksgiving, or other holidays. A flight from Albany to Houston can be pricey. But this March, in her final year at Skidmore, she decided to visit New York City. She was about to head back to campus when she got an email alert about new restrictions related to COVID-19.

Like thousands of other Texas college students, De Leon is trying to find a new normal these days. But for first-generation college students, the abrupt transition can present extra challenges, both financially and emotionally.

While higher education leaders and experts may disagree on how this recession—and complications arising from the novel coronavirus—will play out, they all agree this is a difficult, unique time for the sector.

Institutions with large endowments and storied reputations are bound to survive. But what about community colleges and open-access institutions, which serve the most vulnerable and underrepresented students?