Daily Lumina News 090821

Students ages 25-34 are earning more degrees at a faster rate—and those degrees are higher and more valuable in the U.S. labor market. Six states plus the District of Columbia are leading the way, each with postsecondary attainment rates over 60 percent for this important age group.
Even with these promising gains, there’s sobering news about students of color. Too many are being left behind.

It’s been more than a year since George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer and protests against racial discrimination and police violence toward Black Americans swept the nation. The movement spurred renewed calls for racial justice on college campuses and promises by many presidents for specific changes.
Now that a full academic year has passed, did administrators stick to their promises? What changes were made? And, in a few years, will these institutions look different?

Nathan Noble faces an increasingly difficult challenge: nailing down a place to rent.
Searching for student housing in Reno (and to a lesser extent, Las Vegas) is no easy task. With on-campus housing prices up almost 27 percent over the last decade at the University of Nevada, Reno and off-campus rent prices at an all-time high, students have to get creative. Some couchsurf with friends or live in their cars until they find a place.

Apprenticing in a skilled trade is an opportunity that has not been fully accessed by women. Women make up only about 12 percent of the nation’s apprenticeships, despite comprising half of the U.S. workforce.
Some community colleges are trying to change those statistics by connecting more female students to male-dominated apprenticeships.

As in-person classes return at almost every university in the country, after almost a year and a half of emergency pivoting to online learning, many professors are finding teaching a nerve-racking experience.
Vaccination is optional and mask wearing, while recommended, cannot be enforced. Professors are told they can tell students that they are “strongly encouraged” or “expected” to put on masks, but cannot force students to do so. And teachers cannot ask students who have COVID-like symptoms to leave the classroom. This reality has forced several professors to quit—one in the middle of class.

COVID-19 robbed college students of countless opportunities, including valuable internships that often lead to full-time employment.
To help compensate for the canceled, delayed, and virtual internships, institutions are building their alumni networks and creating new programs to better connect students with employers.