Why working-class youth don't finish college--and what can make the difference.

Headlines proclaim that girls are displacing boys in college. But that's not the whole story. Drawing on a landmark decade-long study of more than three thousand young Americans and the personal stories behind the numbers, Ilana M. Horwitz and Kaylee T. Matheny reveal that among working-class families, boys disengage early from school, disconnecting from the adults and institutions that could keep them on track. While girls persist through school longer, they are slowly worn down by the competing demands of work and family. The result: Fewer than one in five working-class youth earn a college degree, regardless of gender.

Whether working-class kids earn a degree isn't simply about aspirations, finances, or biology. It's about how the adults and institutions surrounding young people either anchor the path to a degree or make the climb impossible. Burnt Out and Left Behind is about the nurses, teachers, and engineers we never got because we left young people to navigate college on their own--and what becomes possible when someone is there to guide their way.