The pandemic and the nation's economic turmoil are combining to crush the college hopes of many low-income and first-generation students. Those who work with low-income students worry freshmen from poor families who were sent home this semester may never return and high school seniors won't get the hands-on help they need with their financial aid applications.

Some colleges are trying to ease the way for incoming freshmen by pushing back their college decision dates to beyond the traditional May 1 deadline, waiving standardized test score requirements, and stepping up virtual advising efforts.

Low-income, first-generation college students of color are demonstrating resilience across the country amid the coronavirus pandemic. Some are trying to put food on their families’ tables. Others are balancing their own college classes with home schooling their elementary-school-age children or siblings and translating for English learners in their families coping with the crisis.

These are typical students at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), and they are also quite typical of college students across the country.

Two administrators at CSUDH share on-the-ground perspectives on how COVID-19 is disrupting higher education far beyond the abrupt shift to online instruction.