News and Views

If you want progress, work for justice. That’s a paraphrase of Pope Paul VI from 1972 amid the Vietnam War. Then, the sentiment was about peace. More than 50 years later, we’re still talking about justice—but now in the context of economic mobility and the promise of American progress.

In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s June 29 decision to end affirmative action in college admissions, a group of foundations quickly issued a joint statement condemning the decision, saying, “The Supreme Court’s decision impedes colleges and universities from selecting their own student bodies and fully addressing systemic racial inequalities that persist.”

What will American colleges and universities look like now that the Supreme Court has upended affirmative action? The evidence is clear: As we’ve seen from states that had already banned race-conscious admissions prior to the court’s recent decision, enrollment for students of color will decline. We can avoid going backward only if institutions embrace new approaches for increasing student diversity and abolish advantages for the privileged, such as legacy preferences.

Not that long ago, higher education advocates regularly complained about the lack of national attention on colleges and universities. A huge win involved a sentence or two in the president’s State of the Union or a governor’s State of the State.

The U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting the use of race in college admissions may not be a total surprise, but it is still a slap of hard truth about the long road ahead for those who respect and understand the benefits of a more diverse and just postsecondary educational system.

For many Black and brown students, real opportunity remains elusive. That’s why we must stay committed to the broader struggle for shared prosperity.

There are 600,000 fewer Black learners in college today than a decade ago, resulting in devastating lost opportunities. More than half of that decrease hit community colleges, once a popular choice for Black students pursuing better jobs and wages.

The way many states choose to dole out financial aid could have the “unintentional consequence of disproportionately excluding Black and Hispanic students,” new research shows.

Our latest national poll on the value of higher education doesn’t beat around the bush. At a time when many Americans wonder if a college degree is worth it, the poll bluntly asks: What is education really for? Overwhelmingly, people responded that their education has helped lead to greater well-being.

We’re always stronger together—and that includes the effort to fix our system of education and job training.

There is a staffing crisis in healthcare - a crisis that is so bad, that some are calling it a national emergency. To meet today’s and tomorrow’s labor demand, leaders need to provide clear and supported career pathways to adults already in the workforce. In this episode, Dr. Jill Buban of EdAssist joins us to talk about their work developing new career pathways, and describes what it takes to make a talent-focused partnership work. Dory Manner of Yale New Haven Health and Gerard Camacho of Atrium Advocate Health discuss the important steps healthcare employers need to take to attract, develop, and retain talent in critical areas.

The bedrock for brand strategy is a well-defined brand positioning statement, which follows a WHO-WHAT-HOW framework. A brand positioning statement is aspirational, authentic, forward-facing, grounded in truth, and easily digestible. It is an internal-facing statement that articulates a community college's core promise to learners and expresses the competitive difference and value it provides. It is the foundation on which all marketing plans should be built.

On this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast, Tom Vander Ark is joined by repeat guest Jamie Merisotis, CEO of Lumina Foundation, a foundation committed to making opportunities for learning beyond high school available to all. We spoke with Jamie in 2020 right after the publication of Human Work in the Age of Smart Machines.

Built along interstates to increase access, nestled within office buildings for convenience or in a field to connect with nature’s laboratory, it’s all too easy to pass by classrooms for the mechanical and agricultural arts without realizing the opportunities they offer.

There are many reasons why only half of American adults have an education credential beyond high school, and we’re starting to see one of the biggest: Communication. Too often, we simply talk past each other. Take these points, for example: A bachelor’s degree is worth $2.8 million, on average, over a lifetime. Someone with a […]

coalition of 22 donors announced Press Forward, a national initiative to strengthen communities and democracy by supporting local news and information with an infusion of more than a half-billion dollars over the next five years.

INDIANAPOLIS—Bachelor’s programs are losing students at shocking rates. Test-optional policies have become the norm. And more recently, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against considering race as a factor in college admissions. To transform how potential students get into college, Lumina Foundation is launching The Great Admissions Redesign, a challenge to find and support the best ideas on how to simplify the admissions process.

When Great Falls College Montana State University applied for The Million Dollar Community College Challenge, college officials expressed a strong desire to strengthen brand identity and engage the community.

My whole life I’ve been curious about exoskeletons. As a child, I dreamed about building one for humans. Well, while Sarcos beat me to the punch with its wearable robotics, it hasn’t quashed my fascination with how humans and technology form a symbiotic relationship.

Next up, we're traveling to the U.S. territory of Guam to visit Guam Community College, which is steeped in history and culture, and all in on workforce programming. There’s never been a stronger sense of community in college. Guam Community College might be far from the mainland United States, but its faculty and staff are working tirelessly to improve opportunities close to home.

When we launched The Million Dollar Community College Challenge in February 2022, we were intentional about focusing on individual colleges. Our goal was simple: to provide an opportunity for colleges across the country to energize the field around improving community college brands AND to get resources directly to colleges to do the work. As we went through the process, we heard from state systems and associations that were also interested in working together to advance brand awareness and deepen the outreach and connection with residents of their college communities. So, in July 2023, we provided a $1 million grant to the Louisiana Community and Technical College System (LCTCS) to improve the brand-building efforts of their 12 colleges in support of adult learners – and ultimately help them advance their bold goal of Reaching Equitable Prosperity by 2030. To accomplish this goal, LCTCS is working toward graduating 330,000 individuals who will earn on average 150 percent above the state median income.

A college's strategic plan guides all long-term and day-to-day institutional decisions, ensuring operations and priorities support the institution's mission, vision, and values. Brand strategy defines and sets the expectation for the experience people will have when engaging with the community college brand. And marketing strategy outlines the tactics of how and where the college will engage audiences to increase awareness and influence them to pursue the college.

Support services for college students are more than a nice benefit – they’re essential. Resources such as academic advising, financial aid services, and mental health counseling can mean the difference between stopping out and graduating.

Summer in Indiana—blooming flowers, filled racetracks and high school graduates excited about college. But while flowers and racing are perennial, Hoosier grads now question college.

Some want better jobs or need to support their families. Others want to break through longstanding barriers. Adult learners have good reasons for seeking college degrees—but these often aren’t enough.

Many adult learners can’t afford hot meals or shelter. If they’re parents, they can’t afford child care. Three out of five college students say they lack the necessities of life, with students of color disproportionately affected.

When my younger sister, Norma, got pregnant during the last year of her undergraduate studies, I was worried about her education and future.

New numbers for Black Americans eager to improve their lives with college degrees are alarming: Only 34 percent hold degrees, and half “stop out” of or left four-year colleges within six years. Worse yet, their college enrollment numbers are steeply declining, down another 30,000 this past fall.