Lumina Foundation is committed to increasing the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees, certificates and other credentials to 60 percent by 2025. | Susan Headden, Focus Magazine SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn It's been a long road to a bachelor's degree for Cassandra Brown—complicated by her own teenage troubles, pandemic problems, and the constant demands of motherhood. But thanks to Northern Arizona University's "Jacks on Track" program for returning adult students, Brown is due to graduate in December. The effort is part of several programs and policies at NAU to improve access, affordability, and degree completion. | Kathryn Palmer, Inside Higher Ed SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn An internship can assist college students in exploring potential careers, honing their skills, and securing employment after graduation. However, the supply of available high-quality internships in the United States isn't keeping pace with demand. Of the 8.2 million students who wanted to intern in 2023, close to half—4.6 million—didn’t end up participating, according to a new report from the Business–Higher Education Forum. Students of color, along with first-generation, low-income, and community college students, had an especially hard time landing an internship. | Caroline Preston, The Hechinger Report SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn Imagine engineering students retrofitting campus buildings to be more energy efficient. Or maybe students in a human behavior class can apply what they've learned to encourage cafeteria visitors to waste less food. Efforts like these are part of an instructional approach known as the “campus as a living lab,” in which classroom teaching mixes with on-the-ground efforts to decarbonize campuses. John B. King Jr., chancellor of the State University of New York and co-chair of This Is Planet Ed, explains how colleges are trying to make a dent in climate change in this interview. | Emma Gallegos, EdSource SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn In June 2022, the California Legislature decided to invest a half billion dollars into the Golden State Pathways Program, a career and college preparation program that Gov. Gavin Newsom calls a “game-changer” for high school students. But two years later, frustration is rising among school leaders, who say they're starting another school year without the promised funding. | Mikhail Zinshteyn, CalMatters SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn Two bills approved by California lawmakers allow some community colleges to provide bachelor’s degrees in nursing. The bills are the latest developments in the state’s ongoing quest to tweak the educational offerings of colleges and universities to address cultural and workforce needs. But the bills also underscore the complexity of both identifying a labor force problem—a nursing shortage—and the role that community colleges and universities play in graduating skilled workers. | Amanda Friedman, The Chronicle of Higher Education SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn Delta State. St. Cloud State. Frostburg State. Cleveland State. Over the summer, the higher education community watched as severe cuts to faculty and academic programs at public regional universities began to pile up across the country. University administrators insist the cuts are necessary to combat budget shortfalls and adapt to evolving attitudes toward higher education. Faculty members, meanwhile, worry the costs will outweigh the benefits. | Johnny Jackson, Diverse Issues in Higher Education |
Tabitha Whissemore, Community College Daily | Scott Pulsipher, The EvoLLLution |
Aaron Thompson, Lexington Herald-Leader | RACIAL JUSTICE AND EQUITY | Lauren Aratani, The Guardian | Adrienne Lu, The Chronicle of Higher Education |
Jane Sathe, The Daily Progress | Ross Reily, Mississippi Clarion Ledger |
Melissa Korn, The Wall Street Journal |
Sara Weissman, Inside Higher Ed | Becky Jacobs, The Cap Times |
Mary Churchill, Higher Ed Policy | Shalin Jyotishi, New America | Caroline Bauman, Chalkbeat | Institute for Higher Education Policy |
American Enterprise Institute |
Civic Learning and Democracy Engagement Coalition | Education Finance Council | |