Something I noticed when I lived in non-assimilated[1] working class neighborhoods is that education just isn't that important. A lot of my neighbors graduated high school and started working for the family ASAP either in some sort of family business or a service job. Families stick together for generations so there's always someone to take care of the house and kids.

For most people I talked to, the idea of sending their son or daughter to college (even a local one) was a risk and rarely considered. If all they want is their kid to graduate high school, they're not going to have the same approach to education as the $100k family with the opposite thought (they HAVE to go to college).

[1] I made up this phrase to mean immigrant families who have been in the US for a few generations but have not assimilated to American middle class culture.