Daily Lumina News 062222

A parking lot with office buildings in suburban St. Louis is also lined with something a bit out of character: rows of huge greenhouses.
Talent in the agriculture industry is in high demand. And many of today's positions are in cities and aimed at scientists and data engineers. Some can even be filled by people who have gone through a technical training program without a bachelor's degree.

Every year, about half a million people are released from U.S. prisons. Within three years, most of them will end up back inside. Daniel Duron is determined to not be part of that statistic.
Duran changed his life by earning his bachelor's degree behind bars. His path will be more available next year when people in federal and state prisons will once again qualify for Pell Grants.

In the past few months, several universities and the state of Oregon have announced plans to waive tuition for the vast majority of their Native American students. Some institutions are going even beyond the tuition waiver with additional supports for students.
What inspired their decisions, and will the commitments last? And will more colleges follow their lead?

In a blog post last year—in which MacKenzie Scott announced awards for 287 community-serving organizations—the philanthropist wrote, “The headline I would wish for this post is “286 Teams Empowering Voices the World Needs to Hear.”
One year later, four community college leaders share what they are doing with Scott's grants to empower the voices of students and communities.

Many students want to build a career in nursing, but the nation’s institutions don’t have the capacity to teach or train them.
Several innovative programs and partnerships across the country are seeking to change that.

The depth of the college affordability crisis means that policymakers should be pushing ahead with ideas to support disadvantaged students, rather than expecting a Pell Grant increase to fix the entire problem, writes scholar Cobretti D. Williams in this commentary.
Without more fundamental changes, a higher Pell Grant risks being little more than a Band-Aid on a growing wound, he says.