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.
Over the past two decades, Hispanic and Latino adults have made some of the fastest gains in education and training after high school of any group in the United States. Since 2009, the share of Hispanic and Latino adults with college degrees has increased by 11 percentage points. Still, much work remains to ensure that Hispanic and Latino students, along with all Americans, have real opportunities to thrive.
Community colleges are key to making this vision a reality. For 40 percent of undergraduates, it is where the work toward fairness becomes real, where better ideas are tested and refined, and where millions of students take life-changing steps toward a better future.
Before the backlash against diversity, equity, and inclusion, colleges would often respond to racist incidents with campuswide conversations, counseling for students, and faculty training on how to discuss them in the classroom.
Florida was among the earliest states to dismantle such efforts, closing DEI offices and prohibiting colleges from allocating funds for courses that address systemic racism, sexism, oppression, or privilege. Now, in this post-DEI world, what should administrators do when students say overtly racist things? When investigated, Republican students feel censored. Students of color feel threatened. And faculty feel helpless.
Colleges and universities are under fire these days from the Trump administration and critics on multiple fronts. Sian Beilock, president of Dartmouth College, is one of the few college presidents who, so far, has avoided Trump's wrath, though her approach has plenty of detractors.
In this interview, Beilock discusses the purpose of college and how to lead in a polarized and uncertain time. The conversation includes Beilock's thoughts on what students are really experiencing on campus, their uncertainty about jobs, and how colleges need to evolve in the age of artificial intelligence.
Nestled in a rural Vermont village, Sterling College uses a 130-acre farm to teach agriculture and other disciplines in an area so isolated it’s rare to see a passing car, and there’s no cell service. LillyAnne Keeley, a senior there, likes that remoteness. But she and her classmates have started taking their experiences at the school less for granted now, since Sterling has announced that it will close at the end of this semester.
They’re not the last students who will suffer such disruption. A new estimate projects that 442 of the nation’s 1,700 private, nonprofit four-year colleges and universities, with a combined 670,000 students, are at risk of closing or having to merge within the next 10 years.
Caregiving students—those who are parenting, caring for other dependents, or providing financial support for family members—face housing insecurity at rates and in ways that the higher education system in the United States has yet to fully reckon with, according to a new report from New America.
Richard Davis, one of the report's authors, says the findings confirm that housing instability is not just a logistical challenge but also a structural barrier that can directly affect whether caregiving students are able to stay enrolled.
After several deaths in her family and an eviction that left her homeless, Jevona Anderson’s life began to unravel. By 2025, Anderson—then 59 and nearing completion of her bachelor’s degree—was failing classes and falling behind on bills. Eventually, she dropped out, joining a growing group of students who have left college before finishing.
That group includes about 38 million working-age adults in the United States. Often, they have student loans to pay but lack the degree to boost their earnings. Recently, however, colleges and local governments have gotten better at helping them get back on track. In Anderson's case, a scholarship made the difference. When she was ready to go back, the money enabled her to reenroll at the University of Baltimore.
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