Daily Lumina News 020524

In 2022, 18-year-old Robert Daniel Cuadra had plans to embark on a promising college career at Montclair State University. But Cuadra would never actually enroll at the public research university just a few miles from his home. Five months before graduating high school, he was senselessly murdered while unloading groceries outside of his home.
That story—and others like it—is the impetus for the Male Enrollment and Graduation Alliance, an ambitious wrap-around initiative designed to strengthen the high school-to-college pipeline for Black and Hispanic/Latino males and put them on a path to graduation.

Accrediting agencies tasked with evaluating U.S. colleges and universities typically focus on metrics related to academics, operations, and fiscal health. The nascent Postsecondary Commission aims to offer a different model for determining institutional quality, one centered largely on student outcomes, such as earnings and economic mobility.
But first, it must become a recognized accrediting body. And while the organization has taken the initial steps to do so, it is only a year into the lengthy and arduous process.

Whether students complete college or drop out before earning a degree has a significant impact on the amount of student loan debt they owe. That’s according to a new study by the HEA Group and the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.
With student loan debt standing at about $1.7 trillion, the findings demonstrate once again the importance of degree completion and quality. While access to college is essential, earning a credential with solid economic returns remains key to students’ ability to make loan repayments that are large enough to keep up with their accumulating interest.

By now, students and families have gotten the news they dreaded: They will have to wait even longer for financial aid offers from colleges and universities.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Education announced yet another delay in the already-turbulent Free Application for Federal Student Aid timeline. The department says it needs extra time to fix a mistake that could have hurt lower-income borrowers, but the delay means all students will have to wait longer for their college aid offers.

Students returned to Harvard University's campus last month after a turbulent and polarized start to the academic year, one punctuated by protests, a disastrous congressional hearing, and the resignation of the university’s first Black president.
Moving forward, a question that looms is whether the school can draw on its own ideals and the collective wisdom of its people to emerge from this test stronger, or whether it—and the country—is too divided.

Once flush with cash, the University of Arizona in November announced a large—and unexpected—budget deficit. Last week, administrators unveiled some aspects of the financial-recovery plan: They predict layoffs, along with cuts across a wide array of departments and academic divisions.
University leaders are pledging to minimize any harm to students, but many students, as well as faculty and staff members, remain concerned.