Daily Lumina News 090523

There’s a rising trend that’s been especially scary for community colleges lately, beyond declining enrollments: “ghost students.” Fraudsters are using bots in an attempt to steal community colleges’ financial aid, gumming up their easy-to-enroll admissions systems and wasting human capital.
Community colleges are now training their staffs to better detect fraud, and making changes to admissions. But with this could come increased barriers to enrollment, say some experts.

At 74, Marjorie Sener owes more than $55,000, or 10 times what she originally borrowed to pay for college. But while Sener never got her degree, that student loan kept growing, fattened by compounding interest.
She's far from alone. The number of people age 60 and older who still have student loan debt has sextupled since 2004, and the amount they owe is up 19-fold. There are now 3.5 million of them who collectively owe more than $125 billion in student loans.

For many student-loan borrowers, interest capitalization is the bane of their existence. It’s why loans that might have been reasonably affordable become financially debilitating after years of deferment or forbearance.
That could change with a new income-driven repayment plan.

Governing boards of colleges and universities wield tremendous power, including the authority to appoint presidents, set tuition rates, and vote on policy changes.
But emerging research is questioning the relationship between the diversity of board members and student success. It comes at a time when the rising political influence of some governing boards is increasingly shaping student and faculty experiences.

Colleges across the country are scrambling to find legal means of maintaining the levels of diversity they would like to see. Though barred from actively using race as a factor, they will still “see” race in signifiers such as name, ZIP code and, perhaps most notable, what students say about themselves in their essays.
But this also means that this year’s class of high school seniors—the first to apply under the affirmative-action ban—must read the signals sent by colleges about how to articulate their case for admission correctly and effectively.

The class of 2024 largely began college during the pandemic’s early days, meaning the beginning of their undergraduate career was marked by social isolation, virtual learning, and economic uncertainty. During that time, many college students reported worsening mental health, feelings of chronic exhaustion, and lack of motivation.
A new survey warns that many of these students expect to carry those feelings into their early careers.