The Latest Crisis: Low-Income Students Are Dropping Out of College This Fall in Alarming Numbers Heather Long and Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, The Washington Post In August, Paige McConnell became the first in her family to go to college—and the first to drop out. McConnell, 18, could not make online classes work. She spent hours in a McDonald’s parking lot using the fast-food chain’s Internet. Two weeks after starting at Roane State Community College, she gave up.
McConnell’s situation is playing out all over the country. As fall semester gets into full swing in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, schools are noticing a concerning trend: Low-income students are the most likely to drop out or not enroll at all, raising fears that they might never get a college degree. | 
