Daily Lumina News 121021

As more American companies encounter a skilled labor shortage, many are turning to upskilling, reskilling, and partnerships as solutions to bridge the gaps.
And some, like Lozier in Omaha, Nebraska, are creating their own programs with local community colleges to attract and grow talent.

This week, the American College Health Association released its latest recommendations for COVID-19 policy on college campuses. The guidelines come as the country prepares to enter its second pandemic winter.
The ACHA leans strongly in favor of vaccinating as many people on campus as possible but isn’t yet recommending a booster mandate.

The National Association of System Heads and more than 100 higher education leaders convened this week to launch the Power of Systems—a national initiative that calls on a network of public university systems to address several pressing issues in higher education.
The initiative aims to make sweeping changes over the next decade by improving credential completion and social mobility and reducing student loan debt.

Only 2% of high school students who took a gap year during 2020 enrolled in fall 2021. Some are taking on jobs to help support their families; others seem to be adrift, with neither school or a job to anchor them.
Those who chose to work may do well for a time. But, as a new report explains, the economy is tilted in favor of those who attain degrees. The negative effects for young people who opted for work over their education will disproportionately impact low-income populations and communities of color.

When the Taliban swept into control of Afghanistan this summer, some American colleges rallied to the aid of displaced students and scholars with offers of places and scholarships.
Now, a coalition of higher-education and humanitarian-assistance groups hopes to create a more durable solution for refugee students: a new college-sponsorship program that helps them resettle in the United States, earn degrees, and ultimately obtain permanent residency.

In March 2020, when Joe Biden was asked whether student loan cancellation figured into his economic recovery plan if elected president, he pledged to cancel at least $10,000 of student debt per person.
Today, while President Biden has provided hundreds of thousands of borrowers with debt relief, that $10,000 promise remains unfulfilled. Here's a look at why—and what he has done.