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.
Throughout her three decades in higher-education leadership, Belle S. Wheelan has never been afraid to speak her mind. That hasn’t changed even as the personal attacks—casting her work as representative of everything that’s wrong with college accreditation—have escalated.
Wheelan is retiring after 20 years as president of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, which oversees more than 750 colleges across 11 states. In this interview, she talks about her time leading the commission, how she has responded to conservative pushback, and what role, if any, she thinks accreditors should play in resisting partisan political interference.
Senate Republicans are planning to protect the Pell Grant program, keeping the maximum grant award at $7,395 for the coming academic year, despite the Trump administration’s proposal to lower it to $5,710.
The rejection of Pell Grant cuts at a key committee markup last week is just the latest rebuke from congressional appropriators, as lawmakers in both chambers have appeared wary of President Donald Trump’s plans to shutter offices, gut programs, and generally reshape the federal government.
Countless people have a stake in America's higher education sector: administrators, professors, employees who work in the field, parents and students who pay tuition, donors and alumni who fund scholarships and endowments, taxpayers who invest trillions and trillions of dollars to build universities and expand access to college, and communities that are economically anchored by institutions of higher education.
Today, many student advocates, policy leaders, and others say the nation's higher education system is in jeopardy. Arne Duncan, the former secretary of education, weighs in.
Once considered a rare exception, community college baccalaureate programs are gaining in popularity. Twenty-four states now have community and technical colleges that offer four-year bachelor's degrees. Supporters argue that CCB programs are tightly aligned with workforce expectations, more affordable and accessible, and meet the needs of people who live far from or otherwise can’t attend a four-year university.
In this interview, three higher education insiders discuss CCB programs and their potential to create additional pathways to social and economic mobility.
It won’t be long before college and university faculty return to campuses and classrooms. Faced with near-constant changes from the Trump Administration, many are grappling with a sense of urgency about the direction of higher education and the societal forces that are shaping it.
From administrative instability to the politicization of teaching and the ethical use of artificial intelligence, many educators believe the stakes have never felt higher. They are deeply concerned about care for students, the large-scale erosion of trust, and the fight to preserve the soul of higher education, which they believe is a commitment to critical thinking.
Gov. Maura Healey of Massachusetts wants to provide $400 million to support research projects at universities and colleges in the state, as many schools face funding cuts by the Trump administration.
The state legislature must approve the money, with the aim of retaining and creating jobs in research and development. In the Boston area, in particular, colleges and teaching hospitals that have fueled technological and biomedical advances over decades are cornerstones of the city’s economy and identity.
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