Photo: Pete Vidal/Montgomery College

A startling percentage of men are dropping out of college—or staying away altogether. The recent drops in male enrollment are highest among men of color in community colleges.

Some colleges and universities are stepping up with new programs to provide support, hoping to remove one more barrier to equality. Alone, they won’t reverse the overall trend. But for many students like Emmanuel Smith, retention efforts can have a powerful impact. 

Leaders at Southwest Tennessee Community College are taking many steps, big and small, to bring students back to the college while also grappling with longstanding structural challenges that make life difficult for community colleges and those they hope to educate. 

As part of that process, the school is confronting some of the shortcomings institutions of its kind often face and has begun to ponder changes that in some cases may be long overdue.

Bianca Jones is a Howard University graduate and educator carrying nearly $70,000 in student debt. She's far from alone. Student debt has become a lifelong burden for many Black borrowers, betraying the promise of college education as the "Great Equalizer."

A new documentary featuring alumni, student debt experts, and others explores the loan debt burdens of students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities.