NEWARK - Attending college was always the plan for North Star Academy Lincoln Park High School seniors Blessing Nwafor, David Okunola and Latasha Garretson, but navigating the application process and getting enrolled came with its own obstacles.

“I definitely struggled, because I had to work a lot by myself since I'm the oldest of all my siblings,” said Okunola, who will be attending Wesleyan University on a QuestBridge scholarship to study computer science. “I wanted to go to a good college, but I wanted to go to one that wouldn’t put a lot of stress on my mom financially.”

For Blessing Nwafor, she was looking for a school with a sense of community and academic vigor. But financial hardships and an immigration issue placing restrictions on some universities’ policies posed challenges.

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