Daily Lumina News 040424

Many students on college campuses struggle with substance use and abuse, but few have a supportive community they can turn to.
In this interview, an administrator from Florida State University shares how her institution prioritizes students’ physical health and student success by investing in peer-led and supportive interventions.

As more than 2 million graduating high school students from across the United States finalize their decisions on what college to attend this fall, many are facing jaw-dropping costs—in some cases, as much as $95,000.
A number of private colleges—some considered elite and others middle-of-the-pack—are exceeding the $90,000 threshold for the first time this year as they set their annual costs for tuition, board, meals, and other expenses. But the sticker price tells only part of the story.

The country's healthcare worker shortage came to the forefront during and after the dark days of the pandemic. The shortage continues today, with experts fearing it will only get worse.
Nashville, considered a major healthcare hub, is not immune to worker shortages. To address its talent pipeline needs, Vanderbilt University Medical Center is collaborating with various local education institutions—including high schools, community colleges, and state colleges—to create new learning opportunities and fill open jobs.

It might be the most common question college students get: “What’s your major?”
While it may be a great conversation starter on campus, the question isn’t that effective in predicting someone’s job choice—and certainly not a full career trajectory. The better we understand this reality, the better equipped we’ll be to help students with the bigger questions they face at the starting line of adulthood, writes Lumina Foundation's Jamie Merisotis in his latest column for Forbes.

A little-known loan program run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture is supposed to encourage new capital investment in rural areas, including on college campuses. Rural colleges and universities have received $2.2 billion over the last decade from the USDA to build student centers, libraries, dorms, and academic centers—at lower interest rates than those offered by private lenders.
But that help may just dig campuses deeper into debt.

David Autor seems an unlikely A.I. optimist. The labor economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is best known for his in-depth studies showing how much technology and trade have eroded the incomes of millions of American workers over the years.
But Autor is now making the case that the new wave of technology—generative artificial intelligence—could reverse that trend.