“Monica Nguyenduy, a senior at Ralston High School in Omaha, ‘really went into the college process blind,’ she said. Nguyenduy’s parents, who didn’t go to college, both work full time, ‘so it’s just not easy for me to ask them.’ She almost missed the deadline for submitting her first two applications and fell back on the Internet for advice until she reconnected virtually with a national nonprofit called College Possible, which had been helping her before the pandemic interrupted the arrangement.
Her wealthier classmates, she said, ‘are not as stressed about this college process. They had previous exposure through their parents going to college. And money was not an issue.’”