Daily Lumina News 061824

The topic of student loan forgiveness sparks heated feelings about fairness, personal responsibility, and economic soundness. The Biden administration’s most recent student loan forgiveness proposal garnered a record number of public comments, with more than 148,000 people sharing their opinion.
Why is student loan forgiveness such a sensitive subject? Various professionals offer their opinions.

In a world where a person's decision to go to college depends on their ability to pay for it, money is everything.
And in a country where access to money is wildly unequal across racial and ethnic groups, whether a family’s financial resources go beyond a biweekly paycheck and include home equity, retirement savings, or hefty gifts from older relatives can make a significant difference in higher education access, according to a new analysis from the Institute for Higher Education Policy.

Texas colleges and universities are reviewing programs and, in some cases, closing offices and laying off staff to comply with a new state law banning diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
Scholarships, an important element in helping students afford college, also are affected by Senate Bill 17, including several from private sources. That reality is not lost on Richard Oliver.

Students and staff members from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia are scrambling to figure out their next steps after the school's abrupt closure—and they are calling on the university to answer questions about why it shut down so quickly.
The nearly 150-year-old university, a longtime home for artists of all kinds, shut down on June 7, leaving more than 1,000 students and hundreds of faculty and staff members confused and anxious.

Not long ago, a college student stated in a focus group that they’d rather fail a class than ask a professor for help. Many students in the group nodded in agreement—and they have plenty of company among students who say they’re reluctant to seek help, often until it’s too late.
This real-life example surfaced recently when Lumina Foundation and Persistence Plus met with more than 200 advisors, staff, and college administrators worldwide to examine barriers to seeking guidance and behavioral science strategies to nudge struggling students to proactively investigate resources.

With the admission season for next fall all but over, just 42.5 percent of Michigan’s Class of 2024 has completed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, down four percentage points from last year. That’s a difference of roughly 4,000 students, students who won’t have access to federal financial aid and to state aid like the Michigan Achievement Scholarship. It likely represents 4,000 students who simply won’t be going to college.
Both state officials and college admissions officers are hoping there’s still time to reverse the trend.

Last week, in a hearing room on Capitol Hill, 12 teams of community college students anxiously stood next to posters that outlined innovations they’d been working on for months.
The students, along with faculty mentors, were in Washington, D.C., as part of the annual Community College Innovation Challenge. The program, led by the American Association of Community Colleges and the National Science Foundation, encourages student teams to develop innovative, STEM-based solutions for real-world challenges.

The University of California, Los Angeles, has a new chancellor: Julio Frenk, the current president of the University of Miami and a well-known public health researcher. Frenk, a native of Mexico, is the first Latino to lead UCLA.
Frenk will take over in January and succeed Gene Block. His appointment comes as UCLA has been roiled by pro-Palestinian protests this spring.