2026-07-23—How FutureReady States are defining—and redefining—credentials of value

“Where can I learn to fix boat engines?” my teenage son asked one day.

For decades, colleges benefited from a simple assumption: prestige signaled value. A bachelor's degree from a respected institution was widely seen as the gold standard, while community colleges and certificates occupied lower rungs of the educational hierarchy.

We live in a world where language is regularly weaponized for political, economic, or other purposes. One of the best examples of that in recent years has been the way in which critics of higher education have seized on the term “liberal arts” to confuse and distort what is behind the term.

This month’s episode, Dakota investigates the creation of the A Stronger Nation data tool, and talks with Tom Harnisch of SHEEO on states that are making exemplary progress on attainment and how current state leaders are contending with ROI and changes to the social safety net. 

What if the problem with higher education isn't that students have lost faith in college?

Pope Leo XIV’s new encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, arrives at a moment of profound uncertainty about the future of human work and human purpose. The document is formally rooted in Catholic social teaching, but its central questions belong to everyone: What does it mean to live a meaningful life in an age of intelligent machines? What responsibilities do societies have to workers displaced by technology? And how do we ensure that innovation strengthens our magnificent humanity instead of diminishing it?

The doom narrative is getting the shape of the problem wrong. Health, education and social services are hiring at close to normal levels. Tech-related fields feel the brunt of AI's impact.

Earlier this month, I was at the airport on my way to a meeting on artificial intelligence in higher ed when I noticed an ad for another AI conference. Headlines about AI dominate my phone notifications. I flip on the TV, and there’s more news coverage about what the technology means for our future, our jobs, our lives.

Not everyone has to go to college, but everyone should know if they could. Across the country, thousands of students are finding out about their college options without having to apply. They’re already in, based on how they do in high school. Direct admission programs are clearing the way to college, instead of hoping students […]

A student’s course schedule is one of the most consequential (and often overlooked) factors shaping whether they stay on track for their degree or credential. Yet the path to earning a degree or credential remains unnecessarily difficult for far too many students. Beyond juggling work, family, financial, and academic demands, they can also encounter barriers […]

Advisors are among the most consequential professionals on a college campus. But often the systems in place around them don’t reflect that reality.

For many students, the journey to college begins with stress, not excitement. They’re left asking fundamental questions: Do I belong in college? Can I afford it? Where do I even begin?

What if the programs designed to help people get by are also some of the most effective tools we have to help them get ahead? New research suggests that helping students meet basic needs can make a meaningful difference in enrollment, persistence, and completion.

Pooled philanthropic fund awards $8 million to inaugural grantee organizations, with an additional $10 million committed to a forthcoming open call

Workforce Pell takes effect on July 1 this year. The expansion of the entitlement program opens access to many more Americans seeking high-quality, short-term training programs that lead to in-demand jobs.

If millions of adults say they want more education or training, why aren’t more of them enrolling?

Workforce education has inspired plenty of enthusiasm lately, but enthusiasm can't bridge foundational skills gaps.

Clever campaigns create awareness. But strong systems create results. 

An #EdUp podcast from ASU+GSV 2026 hosted by Joe Sallustio, featuring Destin Mizelle, Enoch Ellis, and Tobias M. Brown. with Destin Mizelle⁠, ⁠Enoch Ellis⁠, & ⁠Tobias M. Brown⁠, Roadtrippers, ⁠Roadtrip Nation How does a PBS documentary called Thriving: Black Men in Higher Education show young black men that a black astrophysicist, a black economist & a media psychologist […]

Jamie Merisotis, president and CEO of Indianapolis-based Lumina Foundation, is one of the nation’s top experts on providing access to higher education and the ways higher education can prepare the future workforce. Several years ago, he realized how the rapidly accelerating development of artificial intelligence could profoundly impact these two vital currents of American life. In 2020 he published a book titled “Human Work in the Age of Smart Machines,” warning that the roles of workers will radically shift and spotlighting the need to redesign education, training and the workplace as a whole.

Morehouse College student Tobias Brown traveled the country to meet leaders—all Black men, like him, at the top of their fields, who could inspire his education and career dreams.

Lumina Foundation, CollegeAPP, and StrategyForward Advisors have joined to launch the Rural Community College Adult Learner Engagement initiative, supporting a cohort of rural colleges in strengthening their outreach to attract and enroll adults.

Diversity and equity initiatives are increasingly under attack in statehouses, schools, and corporations across the country. But amid this rising rhetoric, a critical misunderstanding threatens our nation’s future—one that could erode our global leadership and economic prosperity.

States across the country have proposed or enacted legislation that hampers or eliminates diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts on college campuses. These efforts range from removing diversity statements from job posting to outright elimination of student support services. Erin Gretzinger and Maggie Hicks from the Chronicle of Higher Education gives us a national overview and Veronica Selzler from Hattaway Communications talks about a new toolkit designed to help bridge the communications gap.

This could be a challenging year for the 4 million or so people just graduating from college: While the National Association of Colleges and Employers reports that most employers say they will maintain or increase hiring, sizeable job cuts elsewhere mean an overall decrease in hiring.

Waterloo, Iowa, got an urgent wake-up call in 2018. Despite being one of Iowa’s most diverse towns with a major manufacturing hub, a financial commentary site listed it as the worst city to be a Black American.

And my equity journey continues. Four years ago, I wrote a column about sending my son off to college and my fears for him as a young Black man finding his way as a student and citizen. Today, I’m the proud mom of a college graduate. Though the world shut down during my son’s freshman year, and he spent […]

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.