Lumina Foundation is committed to increasing the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees, certificates and other credentials to 60 percent by 2025. | Barbara Rodriguez, The 19th News SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn With less than a month to go until the 2024 presidential election, young people and college students face potential challenges at the ballot box—both last-minute and as part of laws enacted after 2020 through state legislatures. Those moves could have the most impact in the battleground states that will determine the outcome of this year's historic presidential election. | David Jesse, The Chronicle of Higher Education SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn There’s no scientific measure for the health of a college presidency. Leaders arrive in a rush of optimism, and often depart in a cloud of ambiguity—promises unfulfilled, constituencies exhausted. Ann Cudd, who is beginning her second year as Portland State University’s president, knows this reality all too well. Cudd occupies the in-between, ejected from her honeymoon phase yet fighting to determine whether she’ll be known as a president who remade Portland State or one who spent her five-year contract as a caretaker. | Paul Fain, Work Shift SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn As more companies get serious about work-based learning, demand is rising for training that helps job seekers get ready for the customs and expectations of office work. This is especially true for businesses that are creating on-ramps for job seekers from lower-income backgrounds, who tend to get less of that preparation at school or home. Yet teaching these skills—how to write a work email or what to wear to the office—isn’t easy. It takes time and money, and it can be a challenge even for the most respected training providers. | Sara Weissman, Inside Higher Ed SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn The American Council on Education caught a lot of eyes over the weekend with a full-page ad in the Sunday New York Times that shared a simple message in large capital letters: “Higher Education Builds America.” In this interview, ACE's Nick Anderson explains the purpose of the ad and what his organization wants the future president of the United States and Americans to know about higher education at a time when its value is too often oversimplified. | Jack Stripling, College Matters SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn There are approximately 3,200 nonprofit colleges in the United States, and all of them are vying for recognition and attention. To stand out in this crowded field, colleges pour untold resources into advertising, branding campaigns, and recruitment of top-flight faculty and students, often with the hope of boosting their national rankings or generating positive news overage. There’s little, it seems, that some colleges won’t do to move the reputation needle in a positive direction. | Laura Spitalniak, Higher Ed Dive SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn Test-optional admissions policies are at an inflection point, with many colleges no longer requiring SAT or ACT scores for fall 2025 admissions. Other institutions, however, have returned to standardized test requirements, leaving aspiring college students to navigate a patchwork of testing policies. Insights from panelists at the National Association for College Admission Counseling's annual conference highlight the benefits and drawbacks of test-optional policies. | Jonathan Ahl, St. Louis Public Radio |
Nathaniel Cline, Virginia Mercury | Declan Bradley, The Chronicle of Higher Education |
Julian L. Alssid and Kaitlin LeMoine, Work Forces |
Joshua Kim, Learning Innovation | Walter Hudson, Diverse Issues in Higher Education | Ricqui Brooks, eSchool News | John Hult, South Dakota Searchlight | Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times |
Maria Carrasco, National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators | Rachel Crumpler, NC Health News | Tiffany Camhi, Oregon Public Broadcasting | The Chronicle of Higher Education |
Inside Higher Ed and Cengage | The Pell Institute and Lumina Foundation | |