Daily Lumina News 020923

Many Black students in the United States face distinctive challenges when it comes to completing postsecondary programs. Barriers to completion include the high financial cost of higher education and implicit and overt forms of racial discrimination that cause many to stop out or never enroll in the first place.
A new study offers insight on the difficulties faced by some Black learners as they pursue higher education while navigating difficult learning environments and balancing multiple responsibilities.

Amid faltering enrollment rates and increased national scrutiny of the price and worth of a college education, Colorado is weighing a new formula to measure the “economic value” of degree programs offered by the state’s public institutions of higher education.
Some leaders are wary.

Students are more likely to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and receive need-based grants when they meet with high school counselors about college financial aid, according to a study of more than 23,000 students who were ninth graders in 2009.
The report comes against a backdrop of national school counselor shortages at the same time some states and districts are using emergency pandemic funding to boost counseling programs.

This week, Zoom announced it will be eliminating 15 percent of its staff. Spotify, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have all made cuts in their workforces in the past month. Amazon and Google are also expected to hire fewer interns in 2023 than in past years.
It is being called the largest wave of tech layoffs since the dot-com crash in the early 2000s, and it’s creating headaches for colleges’ career-counseling offices and soon-to-be-graduates who flocked to majors that once promised plentiful jobs.

People incarcerated for nonviolent offenses in Colorado could soon earn time off their sentence if they get a college degree or credential.
Supporters of House Bill 1037 say it will help incarcerated Coloradans find new opportunities and make it less likely they reoffend after release while also saving the state money. The bill would also provide incentives to state prisoners to take advantage of federal grants available to them starting this summer.

The U.S. Department of Education may miss its October deadline for launching the redesigned Free Application for Federal Student Aid, raising the ire of advocates who say a delay could be detrimental to students from lower-income households.
“A FAFSA delay is a step backward for students and families,” says Justin Draeger, president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.