Daily Lumina News 090122

Under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, state and local workforce agencies provide unemployed and underemployed workers “individual training accounts” to pay for training from state-approved providers included on an “eligible training provider list”—an ETPL.
The only way an institution can get federal training dollars is to be on a state’s ETPL. But rather than ensuring practical, affordable training for in-demand jobs, the lists are a haven for expensive for-profits and fly-by-night concerns.

Returning to college after years away from formal education can feel like both a new beginning and a daunting challenge.
What sparks students to return? How can colleges help them stay on track? And what informal networks and resources do students create on their own? Three students who headed back to finish a degree offer answers.

Before becoming president of Pamlico Community College in 2016, Jim Ross admits that he didn’t think much about people in prison.
A life-changing visit to the school's education program at Pamlico Correctional Institution soon changed that mindset. Today, Ross is a staunch advocate for the educational rights of people incarcerated in Pamlico County.

Community college enrollment has plummeted since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, recent enrollment data from Maine suggest state and federal governments can stabilize these declines by making tuition free.
While free tuition at community colleges will not solve the college affordability and debt crisis, it can go a long way to reducing barriers for students with low incomes to enroll, or reenroll, in college.

As the fall semester begins, thousands of students will return to campuses that have taken the uncommon step of dropping their COVID-19 vaccination mandates.
Their rationales reflect the still-complicated reality of a policy once hailed as critical for getting “back to normal” on college campuses. Meanwhile, public-health experts express mixed opinions about the possible effects of relaxing COVID rules.

In June, David A. Tandberg took a one-year public service leave of absence from his policy job at the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association to serve as interim president of his alma mater, Adams State University.
In this interview, Tandberg discusses the hard practicalities of running a college—and shares updates of the work to increase enrollment and retention and improve pathways to Adams State from local two-year colleges.