News & Views posts.
Blake Dressel and Alex Oliveros both were the first in their families to attend—and graduate—college. But finding a clear pathway there, or a “ladder” to success, as Oliveros puts it, wasn’t easy.
There is welcome news in a report issued this week from the National Student Clearinghouse. The six-year college completion rate for first-time students attending college full- or part-time and earning bachelor’s and associate degrees is up to 62.2 percent, a 1.2-point increase over the previous (2014) cohort of entering students.
Higher education has met some critical challenges during the wrenching two years of the pandemic but still must do better at making education affordable and helping students complete their degrees.
The U.S. Supreme Court roiled the higher education community by agreeing to hear cases against the race-conscious admissions policies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, with arguments likely to come in the fall. Significant resources and attention will now go toward defending these policies and reminding the Court of several decades of its precedent that permits institutions to consider race as one factor in the pursuit of diversity goals.
Lumina Foundation decided about seven years ago to put racial equity at the heart of our work. This had always been important to us, but now it takes center stage. It is our mission as we help all Americans get a fair shot at learning, earning, and contributing their talents.
In November, Congress passed a bipartisan infrastructure bill to invest about $1 trillion in a range of different priorities, including building and strengthening our nation’s roads and bridges, expanding broadband access, and improving public transit.
Students across the U.S. are rightfully demanding that colleges and universities go beyond listening to seriously address decades of racial inequity. As one Missouri student leader put it: “(My school) is making some change, but I won’t really give them a win until I start to see institutional change.”
Join us as we wrap up the major higher ed news from 2021 with Danielle Douglas-Gabriel of the Washington Post, Elissa Nadworny of NPR, and Katherine Wheatle of Lumina Foundation. Together, we talk about the important and sometimes strange stories inside higher education, and consider themes to watch for in 2022.
Empty chairs at the dining-room table this time of year remind us of loved ones no longer here. Like yours, perhaps, my family has had some experience with that loss. But in my mother’s case the grieving also led to a new career, and I sometimes think about what that might mean for others considering their job choices for the new year.
To those who appreciate good government and the smooth transition of power from one administration to another, the scene of Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and Gov. -elect Glenn Youngkin together represented a moment to celebrate.