Start early and get to Thanksgiving. That was the goal for many colleges holding in-person classes in the fall amid the pandemic. But how many got to the end of the semester in a healthy financial condition?

A new survey sheds some light on the financial challenges that colleges face as they approach a spring semester that might be even tougher to pull off.

Josie Chen is a first-year student at Harvard University. Chen, however, has never set foot on campus. Instead, she's taking courses virtually from her parents’ home in Oakland, California. 

College isn’t normal for anyone this fall. Uncounted numbers of students like Chen have chosen to forgo the typical first-year experience to stay closer to home, whether to help out their families or to safeguard their own health. Their first impressions of college are turning out to be challenging, isolating, frustrating and confusing, with a few bright spots.