Equity experts worry that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to ban race-conscious admissions will send a message to Black and Hispanic students that they are not wanted on college campuses, or push them to more troubled schools. It could also lead to a rollback of groups and programs that center on race.

Yet, for many students, the biggest barriers are practical: applying to, paying for, and completing college.

Photo: Eli Imadali

Bikram Mishra earned three business degrees from Adams State University during his 12 years of incarceration. He became known as the “educator behind bars.” After his release from prison, Adams State administrators asked Mishra to continue teaching inmates via remote learning.

More recently, Mishra joined several other formerly incarcerated individuals to testify in support of a bill passed during the 2023 state legislative session that seeks to make college degrees more accessible—and enticing—for incarcerated students in Colorado.

Graduating from high school and going to college, or beginning a career, was particularly daunting for the class of 2022, with many students spending more than a year studying from home during COVID-19-related pandemic school closures.

The new adults struggled academically, especially with math, and socially due to their prolonged time out of school. Some students changed long-held plans to attend colleges far from home; others decided not to attend at all. All are determined to leverage the lessons learned during COVID to move forward.