Daily Lumina News 030420

When Ralph Gray transferred from one prison in Illinois to another, he didn’t know the move would mean sacrificing access to an education.
Gray is far from alone. A lack of teachers, funding, and the Illinois Department of Corrections own policies prevent many incarcerated individuals in Illinois prisons from obtaining their GED, associate degree, or a trade skill.

Milwaukee is home to about one-third of Wisconsin’s undocumented immigrants—an estimated 30,000 people. Aimeé Navarro Villegaz, 21, is all too familiar with the challenges of navigating the uncertain landscape that undocumented immigrants must face every day, every hour.
Villegaz is a senior at Marquette University. She is passionate about her college education—and credits the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program for putting her on that path. Now, with the fate of DACA being debated, Villegaz says she's gone from motivated to unsure about her future in this country.

Student borrowers hold a total of $1.51 trillion in debt on student loans. Most of the loans are borrowed from the federal government. Parents hold about 7 percent of the total outstanding loan amount.
For those who dropped out of college, or even people who graduated but then suffered unexpected medical or financial calamity, even a small amount of debt can be paralyzing. But for borrowers who can afford the monthly payments, education debt is just another part of the price of admission to the middle class—even if they never entirely pay it off.
This interactive story provides a detailed look behind the student-loan debt numbers.

It’s time for colleges and universities to take a hard look in the mirror, says University of Maryland Baltimore County President Freeman Hrabowski. Too many students don’t make it to graduation and others are faced with the false choice between pursuing a broad education and gaining technical skills, when they actually need both.
At UMBC, Hrabowski is proving that with the right support, even the most challenged students will succeed.