Top Higher Education News for Friday
Lumina Foundation is working to increase the share of adults in the U.S. labor force with college degrees or other credentials of value leading to economic prosperity. | Carrie Jung, WBUR SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn For Kiara Rosario, commencement at Roxbury Community College last Friday felt particularly momentous. The single mom began her journey in higher education four years ago after escaping a volatile relationship. But as Rosario prepares to take the next step in her educational journey, she can't help but feel uncertainty, especially over financial aid. With an associate degree now in hand, she plans to attend Boston College as an undergraduate in the fall and fund her tuition with a mix of federal financial aid and school-based scholarship money. She now fears that today's politically charged climate could jeopardize her future goals. | Kirk Carapezza and Jon Marcus, College Uncovered SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn Online higher education has come a long way from its predecessor, the correspondence school. The universal shift to remote learning during the pandemic only accelerated that momentum. It has also allowed more comprehensive research into whether online teaching works as well as the in-person kind. But even as more students go online to learn, there are many caveats about this fast-growing innovation. In this interview, experts discuss who should take online courses, where they should take them, and in what subjects. | Peter Charalambous, ABC News SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn U.S. District Judge Myong Joun issued a preliminary injunction Thursday that bars the Trump administration from attempting to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education and firing half of the agency's workforce. The order also prohibits transferring management of federal student loans to the Small Business Administration. The decision marks the first time a federal judge has determined the Trump administration's sweeping changes to the Department of Education are unlawful. | Bart Pfankuch, South Dakota News Watch SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn Clean energy is creating new jobs in rural America, generating career opportunities for people who install solar panels, work in biochemistry, build wind turbines, weatherize homes, and much more. In response, the South Dakota technical school system, which also includes campuses in Sioux Falls and Rapid City, has developed a close working relationship with the energy industry to ensure students learn the right skills and employers can tap into a pipeline of well-trained workers. | Alison Griffin, Work Shift SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn In a move that could influence workforce development nationwide, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed an executive order this week that sets in motion a comprehensive overhaul of the state’s postsecondary education and workforce systems. The order is an ambitious plan to break down silos between agencies and initiatives focused on education and workforce development—and to provide a larger framework for several experiments already happening in the state. It is also a marker of a growing belief among governors that education and workforce development must happen in tandem. | Emma Pettit, The Chronicle of Higher Education SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn President Trump’s second administration has targeted higher education with funding cuts, charging that colleges—particularly prestigious ones—have let progressive ideology run amok. The sector’s leaders have responded by weighing whether to give ground or fight back. Lingering inside that question is another uncomfortable one: Do Trump and his allies have a point? Two professors at the University of California at Berkeley recently tested a version of that query with their peers. The responses are candid and occasionally brutal. | Holly Zanville, The EvoLLLution |
George Prentice, Boise State Public Radio | Joshua Kim, Learning Innovation | Quentin Brown, Word in Black |
Walter Hudson, Diverse Issues in Higher Education | Kate Hidalgo Bellows and Katherine Mangan, The Chronicle of Higher Education |
Theoria Praxis, Ms. Magazine | Ben Unglesbee, Higher Ed Dive |
Hayleigh Colombo, Indianapolis Star | Dahlia Bazzaz, The Seattle Times | Katherine Knott, Inside Higher Ed |
Betty Márquez Rosales, EdSource | National Student Clearinghouse Research Center | Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration |
National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators | |