Jan 19, 2021 3:04 PM EDT
Kamarree Williams had been on a path to college since before he learned long division.
A 2020 high school graduate from Marin City, California, Williams had entered an after-school college prep program, Bridge the Gap, when he was in third grade. During high school, he took dual enrollment courses at the two-year College of Marin. Williams, who is now 18, had hoped to attend the college after graduation, transfer to a four-year school and eventually own a restaurant one day.
The decline in first-time enrollment at community colleges was a staggering 21 percent with Black, Hispanic and Native American first-year students recording even steeper drops, between 28 and 29 percent.