This article followed twenty-one diverse students as they "stepped on the ladder" that will allegedly take them to a better future. Their stores, recounted here, show how difficult it is for students from the working class to gain access to this ladder.  They have had to do much of the work entirely on their own.  Being anomalies in their families, they are also marked as different (and socially inferior) at school.  Many are tracked into vocational programs.  Others are the subject of social teasing and taunting based on the color of their skin, the language they speak, or the clothes they wear.  Some drop out (but come back).  Because of inadequate counseling, many miss important college application deadlines, don't take the proper entrance exams, or can't afford application fees. ... Their stories give us insight into why there are so few working-class college students, insights that move us beyond simply lack of money or lack of ability.  These stories recount both the difficulties of accessing college and the dilemmas of being college-educated in a society that devalues manual labor, subaltern cultures, and collective action.  The stories also strengthen the argument for class-based affirmative action programs, demonstrating as they do how class cultures, biases, assumptions, and systems of oppression operate to limit the number of working-class students in college.