“I don’t think anyone mentioned the marches as a reason not to go to UVa,” he said. “You would think that it would be a reason, but nobody ever said so.”

But experts say that schools in Virginia and across the country are struggling with issues of equity and access that go beyond specific incidents like the Unite the Right rally.

Bob Holsworth, a former Virginia Commonwealth University dean who now serves on VCU’s board, said that while UVa provides assistance to low-income students, it still enrolls proportionally fewer high-need students than do its peers.

“Those who are wealthy, like UVa, can do what [President] Jim Ryan is doing and promise free tuition to certain families, but the fact is that UVa is not taking in the vast majority of students who are Pell Grant-eligible,” Holsworth said. “Those students are taken by VCU, [Old Dominion University] and the [historically black colleges and universities], and what we’re finding is that the people who need the most help are graduating with the most debt.”