Daily Lumina News 111621

In many parts of the country, access to a strong internet connection is far from a given. Rural students, like those living in parts of Appalachia and in tribal communities, are particularly affected.
But help is on the way. The new infrastructure law includes $65 billion for improving broadband. For college students like Faylene Begay, a single mother of four living on the Navajo reservation in Arizona, that money could make a big difference.

Lumina Foundation's Fall 2021 issue of Focus Magazine, titled Native Excellence, relied on an experienced team of Native American journalists and photographers.
On this podcast, two of those individuals—Suzette Brewer and Hondo Louis—talk about their process, how the pandemic shaped their reporting, and the importance of Native American representation in journalism.

The number of international students at American colleges declined precipitously during the COVID-19 pandemic, with new enrollments tumbling 46 percent in fall 2020—a steeper decline than for any other student group.
But that number has begun to rebound. According to new data, colleges are reporting a 68-percent jump in new international students this semester.

For-profit colleges have a long history of not living up to the promise of a marketable degree at an affordable price. Many have graduation rates below 40 percent, and their typical student earns less than $20,000 a year after leaving.
Now, it turns out, many of these colleges that make money off students have an abiding partner in the little-known tuition financing companies.

Most of the billions of dollars of higher education investments in President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Act will go toward institutions and programs that already receive some sort of federal support.
But if the legislation passes as it is currently written, the federal government will invest in a particular group of students that it hasn’t supported before—those who are undocumented.

The disruption caused by the pandemic put higher education in a sink-or-swim moment. Institutions had to quickly adapt to meet the needs of learners, while moving to a remote environment.
In this interview, Anne Houtman of Earlham College discusses her institution's shift to a shorter semester model, its impact on enrollment and retention rates, and how shorter semester models help today's learners get the credentials they need to stay relevant in the workforce.