Daily Lumina News 121923

More than 43 million student loan borrowers rang in 2023 full of hope that their debt balances would drop by either $10,000 or $20,000 under President Joe Biden’s forgiveness plan.
But that promised relief never materialized. Now, as the calendar gets ready to flip to 2024, borrowers and student loan advocates are growing frustrated because new options prove to be far more narrow than the initial, broad-based forgiveness plan.

For Julio Rivera, transferring from a local community college to a bachelor’s program in nursing was always a top priority. But the pandemic put a pause on Rivera’s education as hospitals had difficulty accommodating student nurses. Rivera applied to public programs in San Bernardino County, but many of them were severely limiting clinical training or not accepting new applicants at all.
Instead, the 33-year-old chose an increasingly popular option: a private nursing program that would have a six-figure sticker price but guarantee him a timely degree.

After a months-long standoff between the University of Wisconsin system and Republican legislators, a deal was officially brokered to release $800 million in state funds. The catch: The system had to agree to realign dozens of diversity, equity, and inclusion positions and support several other Republican-backed priorities.
The Board of Regents initially rejected the deal but reversed its vote last week. The move is now raising concerns about its precedent for future negotiations over public higher education funding in the state.

For Layla Granville, getting a scholarship wasn't about where she would go to college—but whether she could go at all.
Dominican University offered the lifeline that Granville needed: a scholarship program for students from low-income families interested in science. Unlike many scholarships, this one did not require a high grade point average. These kinds of need-based scholarships are one way to make sure more students like Granville can sign up—and finish—their education. But that financial aid is becoming less of a priority for many schools.

Is college worth it? It can be, but students need to have better information about what a college education can lead to.
Advocates are hoping that a new report commissioned by Colorado lawmakers will help more low-income students and those of color see college as a viable option for them.

Laura VanBlaricum did the math. She couldn’t return to work—not on her salary and with the cost of infant care in her Michigan community. Left with no choice, she did what millions of American women have had to do: She dropped out of the workforce. It was 2020.
VanBlaricum eventually tried again, looking for a company that would provide her with a livable wage and a reason to stay. In early 2022, she found one. More important to VanBlaricum, it offered a program to help modest-income families shoulder the high cost of child care.