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"Grit" seems to be a buzzword in conversations about college access these days.

It often goes like this: If you just have enough determination, you can carve out your own path to a degree. 

But if you don't have the money for college, how far can grit really get you?

 writes that grit "is not the holy grail that it has been cracked up to be, and it certainly is not the cure-all it has been portrayed as in so much education literature."

Nathan, the former headmaster of a Boston public high school, is now the executive director of the Center for Artistry and Scholarship. 

She joined MPR News host Kerri Miller to discuss grit and college access.

 Use the audio player above to hear the full discussion 

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"Grit" is a buzzword in conversations about college access these days. But if you don't have the money for college, how far can grit really get you?

Are poor and first-generation students being dissuaded and taken off the college track? Linda F. Nathan joined MPR News with Kerri Miller to discuss her latest book, "When Grit Isn't Enough: A High School Principal Examines How Poverty and Inequality Thwart the College-For-All Promise."

If you don't have money for college, how far can 'grit' get you?

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