Lumina Foundation is working to increase the share of adults in the U.S. labor force with college degrees or other credentials of value leading to economic prosperity.
As states investigate how to strengthen college and career pathways, dual enrollment—which allows high school students to earn college credit—has emerged as a key strategy.
Yet researchers at the Community College Research Center argue these programs don’t always deliver on that promise. Often, dual enrollment functions as a “program of privilege” for students already on a college track, according to researchers at the center. CCRC's John Fink explains how states and colleges can rethink dual enrollment to better align with students’ goals in this interview.
A new Lumina Foundation and Gallup report shows that more than half of today's college students are already using artificial intelligence in their coursework on a daily or weekly basis. At the same time, other students avoid the technology because some of their classes lack clear guidance about how they can actually use AI.
Higher education has an important opportunity here, writes Lumina Foundation's Courtney Brown. This includes showing students how to use AI in ways that are ethical, informed, and productive, setting clear expectations, and ensuring they understand both the power and the limits of the technology.
After the 2022 midterm election, a gap appeared to be shrinking on U.S. college campuses. The turnout rate for student voters at community colleges was catching up with the rate at public four-year institutions. What was a gap of nine percentage points for the 2020 election had shrunk to just three in 2022.
But that data is currently on ice. To figure out how to boost student voting, colleges have relied on a study about campus voter registration and turnout rates. Now, a Trump administration investigation has cut schools off from that data.
Recently, there's been a heightened interest in accreditation, both from policymakers and the public. Politicians, including President Donald Trump, have attacked the system publicly, labeling it as woke and in step with a liberal agenda.
However, policymakers and the press often misrepresent accreditors and their role in higher education. In this Q&A, Jan Friis of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation weighs in on the inner workings of the accreditation system and the federal government's vision to change it.
Texas is on track to see a record number of students complete the federal form to request financial aid for college, a critical step in applying for and affording college.
But for students who have at least one undocumented family member, applying for federal financial aid at a time of heightened immigration enforcement means weighing the risk of sharing family information with federal officials. Financial aid applications are protected by student privacy laws, but college access advocates say such reassurances are often not enough, prompting some students to reconsider college altogether.
The notion of a “60-year degree” resonates for a simple reason: It aligns higher education with the way people actually live and work. Careers now unfold across multiple chapters. Skills erode faster than they once did. Entire fields emerge, transform, and sometimes disappear within a single professional lifetime. Against that backdrop, the idea that a university’s primary obligation is fulfilled in four years feels increasingly out of step.
Recognizing the mismatch is the easy part. The harder question is what comes next.
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