Daily Lumina News 071522

Postsecondary degrees and workforce credentials still offer more reliable paths to long-term, stable employment with good pay. But for those who are first-generation college students or coming from impoverished families, finding those paths—and staying on them—is never easy.
Just ask Devon Mitchell. Her story illustrates the myriad challenges millions of adult students face in making their dreams come true and community-college administrators have getting them into, and through, school.

College students often face housing challenges during academic breaks. Outside groups are stepping up to help by paying for available college dorm rooms so students have a place to call home.
Such support is life-changing for students like Syerra Gardner. But getting that help can be all-consuming.

The U.S. Department of Education is routing the final $198 million it has left to award in coronavirus emergency relief funding to 244 colleges.
Nearly 90 percent of the new round of grants is slated for historically Black colleges and universities, minority-serving institutions, community colleges, rural institutions, and colleges serving a large number of low-income students.

Clemency petitions, which include pardons and sentence commutations, must address two main questions: Why are you in need of the relief? Why do you deserve relief?
For Johnny Pippins, who has served 26 years behind bars for murder, the answer to both questions is his education.

Otterbein University and Antioch University are combining forces—but not merging—to create an affiliation that aims to build a national university system focused on graduate education and adult students.
Mergers and acquisitions across higher education have made national headlines in recent years as colleges make such moves to remain afloat. But this affiliation offers a different approach, one more comparable to a business alliance.

When college students experience a mental health crisis, a call to 9-1-1 is often the only option. The result is a visit from the police, which can perpetuate the stigma around mental health for someone going through a crisis.
California State University, Long Beach is changing that scenario with its Mobile Crisis Unit. Instead of only sending police, mental health professionals will also respond to crisis calls. It’s part of a new initiative to overhaul how the campus addresses the mental health needs of its students.