Daily Lumina News 050522

On the campaign trail and in office, President Joe Biden proposed making two years of community college tuition-free. The idea eventually fell by the wayside after congressional opposition.
Yet, efforts persist at the local and state level to boost college-going rates. More than 400 such programs now exist in the United States, including one called the AlamoPROMISE in San Antonio, Texas.

When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down in-person classes, many college prison-education programs were forced to rely on companies that sell technology products to prisons.
Now, as program leaders look to the future, they’re reimagining the role tech will play in a space that is uniquely restricted, and where some for-profit offerings have fallen under suspicion.

Complete College America, a national non-profit organization working to raise postsecondary attainment in the United States, has selected Arkansas, Montana, and Oklahoma for an ambitious new initiative aimed at increasing college completion and equity for students in their states.

Given the steady barrage of news about the pandemic, learning loss, and mental health issues in K-12, how will COVID-era kids fare as they leave high school behind—and what will the ripple effect be on colleges and universities over the next decade-plus?
NPR's Anya Kamenetz shares answers and insights in this interview.

New research shows that transfer enrollment fell 6.9 percent this spring compared to last year, with upward transfers from two-year colleges to four-year institutions bearing the brunt of the declines.
A decline in upward transfer could harm both institutions that rely on transfer enrollment and students who could miss out on the economic benefits of obtaining a bachelor’s degree.

A new book, Becoming Great Universities: Small Steps for Sustained Excellence, highlights 10 “core challenges” facing every college and university.
In this interview, the book's authors describe how campus communities of every kind can transform themselves from good to great—and without spending a ton of money.