While it took time for her to adjust to the New England weather and the dining hall, Ms. McNair has enjoyed her transition to college. She shares a dorm room with her best friend from home. Her boyfriend, whom she met in high school, is also a student at the college.

However, one question nags at her: How will she afford the next semester?

“Keeping up with tuition is also pretty hard, because I had to find a lot of scholarships,” she said. Ms. McNair is supported by her mother, who does not work and receives disability benefits .

The youngest of four siblings, Ms. McNair is close to her older sister and brothers, but they have their own families and cannot help with tuition or co-sign loans.

Her family, she said, keeps her motivated to excel in school: “They’re all rooting for me, and I just want to make all of them proud.”

Ms. McNair received $27,000 in scholarships for the current academic year in addition to $9,500 in federal student loans. She also received nearly $6,500 in grants, including a $6,195 federal Pell grant. A job at the campus library is paying her $2,000 for the school year through the federal work-study program. But she still owed a few thousand dollars each semester to cover the $57,000 annual cost of attendance, including tuition, fees, room and board.

In August, Children’s Aid, one of the seven organizations supported by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund, gave Ms. McNair $3,336 to pay her remaining balance for the fall semester.

“It helped me because I had no other way to pay for my tuition,” she said. Ms. McNair uses a credit card that she pays off each month in the hope that she can build up her credit and apply for a small loan.