Rosa is a senior at George Washington University (where Steve teaches). Her father, a dockworker who speaks little English, lost his job last fall. The family’s meager savings are gone, and she might have to leave school next month. “We’re broke,” she says.

This is a tragedy. Rosa is exactly the sort of student America needs: a smart, motivated Latina whose family immigrated to New Jersey from South America 20 years ago. She’s the first in her family to attend college and the first to vote. She even went home last fall to cast her ballot in person, and set a good example for her younger brothers.

Rosa is hardly alone. The economic downturn is crushing college students across the country. Even parents who still have jobs are watching their homes and investments plunge in value – exactly the assets they planned on tapping to pay tuition.

“All of our anxiety is around our students, and their financial ability to attend,” Robert A. Brown, the president of Boston University, told the Boston Globe. “That’s an absolutely fundamental shift from the past few years.”

As student needs are skyrocketing, aid money is dwindling. Thirty-one states are facing budget shortfalls, and higher education is on the chopping block. One example: The California State University system will cut enrollment by 10,000 students.