I read in an article by Wayne E. Wright that mentioned that a large influx of the refugees that were re-settled after 1983 were scattered to the poorer parts of urban centers and not given the appropriate resource support from the local governments to ensure a decent urban living standard (i.e. not poor). The government of the U.S.A received millions of refugees but were unprepared to provide access in the form of ESL and schooling services , community-based programs, and other social welfare and health-related programs, or Khmer translators to address the needs of the Southeast Asian populations. Cause you know, it wasn't just us, it was also the Vietnamese, Lao, Mien, and Hmong who were brought here.
That is a very simplistic explanation. Basically, we got dumped here and some people fared better than others as we were left to fend for ourselves.
Honestly, it is very hard to make it to college if you live in a poor neighborhood and go to a poor school (since schools are funded by the housing taxes, so low-cost housing = lower taxes = lower funding for local schools), and you have poor teachers. On the topic of schools, I'd bet that back in the homeland before 1975 - there wasn't a whole lot of systematic formal K-12 schooling and very few colleges and universities. A Ph.D. itself is a new concept to modern Cambodia. It is hard for our parents, especially the ones that did not even go to school in our homeland to understand the schooling system in the United States.
I think every parent wants their children to be well-educated, but wanting something and having the ability to help your child gain access to these resources are very different. Even my parents struggled to get me here - I'm mostly here by LUCK! LOL