For Poor, Leap to College Often Ends in a Hard Fall - JASON DePARLE, NY Times

Each showed the ability to do college work, even excel at it. But the need to earn money brought one set of strains, campus alienation brought others, and ties to boyfriends not in school added complications. With little guidance from family or school officials, college became a leap that they braved without a safety net. The story of their lost footing is also the story of something larger -- the growing role that education plays in preserving class divisions. Poor students have long trailed affluent peers in school performance, but from grade-school tests to college completion, the gaps are growing. With school success and earning prospects ever more entwined, the consequences carry far: education, a force meant to erode class barriers, appears to be fortifying them. "Everyone wants to think of education as an equalizer -- the place where upward mobility gets started," said Greg J. Duncan, an economist at the University of California, Irvine. "But on virtually every measure we have, the gaps between high- and low-income kids are widening. It's very disheartening." http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/23/education/poor-students-struggle-as-class-plays-a-greater-role-in-success.html