Daily Lumina News 113021

Colleges tend to compete rather than collaborate. But leaders of five independent community colleges in New Mexico think otherwise. They believe they’re stronger together than apart.
On this podcast, the presidents of two colleges in the Collaborative for Higher Education Shared Services, or CHESS, describe the cross-institutional collaboration and their work to radically transform the higher education student experience.

After struggling through two classes at San Francisco State University last year, Amanda Cangelosi chose to leave campus and start working to save money.
But in March, Cangelosi, 20, received an email from the university as part of a pilot program to reconnect with students who dropped out or stopped attending the college after fall 2019. The strategy made all the difference.

For many students, a lack of reliable transportation can quickly stop them from achieving their education dreams. The PATH to College Act hopes to change that.
The bill is designed to improve public transportation at community colleges and minority-serving institutions, allowing students to focus on their education instead of how they’re getting to school every day.

Professional training programs have exploded in recent years. By one count, there are now more than 500,000 of them, ranging from dental assistant certification programs at for-profit colleges to Microsoft certifications in cloud computing.
Little is known about how many students who enroll in these short-term programs manage to complete them, pass their exams and—most importantly—land better-paying jobs. Now, two groups are trying to shed some light on this opaque and unregulated area.

At age 37, Raymond Owen has gone from teaching classes to being a student at Blue Ridge Community College.
His career change comes courtesy of Virginia's 'Get a Skill, Get a Job, Get Ahead' program, an effort that is lifting the burden for students trying to get an education while also juggling a work schedule to pay for it.

The number of Hispanic-serving institutions has grown significantly in the past decade. But some researchers are raising concerns that the federal money earmarked for HSIs isn’t necessarily doing what it’s supposed to do: directly support Latino/a students.
Stephanie Aguilar-Smith, an assistant professor of higher education at the University of North Texas, says colleges pursue that money for plenty of other reasons.