Against the Rules

Colleges today talk a big game about valuing diversity — so why are so many of them failing to retain first-generation students?

We meet a homeless straight-A track star and her ad-hoc college application coach to look at why it’s so hard to get into college while rural, poor, and uncoached.

We go deep with coaches and students at a non-profit called ScholarMatch, founded by novelist David Eggers, to find out just what it can take to get first-generation college students over the graduation finish line.