Report: More than 100,000 low-income California college students lack internet access

Image via iStock Pierce College theater student Sonny Lira was in the middle of rehearsing a script when his phone overheated and shut off, abruptly cutting off his performance. This wasn’t the first time technical difficulties interrupted Lira’s community college class. Since Wi-Fi wasn’t good enough at home, Lira often practiced his lines over Zoom in his car, situated in the middle of a Starbucks parking lot. The constant disruptions frustrated his director, who discussed finding a laptop for him. “I’d have to run home to get an ice pack and recharge (my phone) if I wanted to attend class,” Lira said. More than 100,000 low-income college students in California, like Lira, lack access to the technology they need in order to participate in online classes, according to a new report from the non-profit education equity organization Education Trust-West . It is among the first comprehensive looks at how the coronavirus pandemic intersects with the digital divide at California colleges. Across hundreds of California colleges, about 102,000 students from lower income households and 145,000 students of color lack access to the internet, the report projects. (There is some overlap between the two groups.) When it comes to access to […]

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