Daily Lumina News 120623

For many Black and Hispanic students, the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to ban affirmative action in college admissions sends a message that they do not belong at highly selective colleges, and if they get in, they worry they’ll stand out even more.
That reality is why nonprofit advising groups like TeenSHARP toil alongside students, guiding them through an increasingly confounding admissions system.

Many Americans continue to doubt the value of a college degree, putting additional pressure on colleges and universities to place students in meaningful and gainful employment.
A new white paper from WGU Labs, an affiliate of Western Governors University, offers a possible solution by identifying opportunities for higher ed stakeholders and workforce development leaders to redesign the current learning experience.

The decision late last year by Yale Law School to stop cooperating with U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings landed like a thunderclap. Other schools soon followed Yale's lead.
A year later, the full effect of the revolt remains tricky to parse. U.S. News made changes, placing greater emphasis on student outcomes. But a thorny relationship between the publication and the schools it ranks persists, fueling a broader debate about who gets to define quality in education.

Free tuition programs might entice students to enroll in community college, but they do little to help those who may be dealing with their own financial, transportation, or child-care barriers.
From handing out grocery gift cards to loaning out laptops, two community colleges in rural Southwest Virginia are helping students not just enroll but also complete their programs so they can earn degrees and certificates to boost their earning potential.

Reigniting the college-going aspirations of the tens of millions of Americans who have already given higher education a chance is critical to improving degree attainment in the United States. It's not enough, however, to just get returning learners through the door. They need intentional support and resources that will follow them all the way through graduation.
With this support, they will know that the promise of higher education is not only real—but within reach, writes the president of Complete College America in this essay.

Industrial policy in the United States is back. But the 21st-century version of these policies won’t be successful without policymakers aligning emerging technology and talent development to ensure quality job creation and reliable, equitable pathways for those jobs.
Experts say community colleges have an important role to play, and the STEM Talent Challenge grant program administered by the U.S. Commerce Department's Economic Development Administration can help fund their participation.