Chicago Tribune

At George Washington High School, senior Ashley Sanchez has an A average and test scores that would gain her admittance to a selective university, but she doesn't think she's going to college. Her family can't afford it.

At Bogan Computer Technical High School on the Southwest Side, Brittaney Jackson is a teenage mom holding on to a B average. But she's heading to South Carolina State University this fall to study nursing, pushed hard by her school counselor...