Daily Lumina News 020121

Julianna Alvarez, 17, had it all worked out. She would get into John Jay College of Criminal Justice this fall. She would pay tuition by winning a merit scholarship. After becoming the first person in her family to graduate college, she’d spend her life helping “the whole world.”
Then the pandemic hit. Alvarez’s mother lost her restaurant job, and Alvarez had to care for her younger siblings. Her grades began to plummet, leaving Alvarez questioning her college plans altogether.
The steady stream of Latino students arriving on college campuses in recent years has been a bright spot in higher education, but some worry the pandemic could threaten those gains.

Academic advising services are central to the on-campus experience—but the pandemic has forced schools to re-examine and rethink how they reach out, connect, and communicate with students.
In this interview, Joe Murray of Florida Atlantic University discusses the pandemic's impact on advising services, the challenges advisers face, and the online techniques that can give students a better advising experience.

Colleges and universities across the country witnessed steep enrollment declines this fall because of the pandemic. Community colleges experienced the sharpest declines.
Waubonsee Community College in Illinois saw the same drop-off. In response, school leaders are stepping up supports to high-need students. That includes providing computers and other tech to bridge the digital divide. They’re also focusing on more career and technical programs such as contact tracing and health care that meet the moment. And a newly created workforce and solutions council will work with area businesses to better determine community needs amid an ongoing pandemic.

The college-application season is underway for the high-school class of 2021—and it’s clear that the pandemic is continuing to have equity implications for higher education.
While the volume of applications overall is up 10 percent from a year ago, there are other, more troubling trends beneath this top-line number. The number of first-generation applicants is down 3 percent from this point a year ago. And, this fall, the number of first-time freshmen declined by 13 percent from the year before, with sharp drops among first-time Black, Hispanic, and Native American students in particular.