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.
Roughly 55 percent of this year’s high school graduating class applied for federal financial aid, a significant comeback after the glitchy rollout of a new version of the form last year.
But even with that progress, this year, like every year, many students didn’t submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. (Out of nearly four million graduating seniors in 2025, about 1.6 million did not complete the FAFSA.) A new analysis of data from fall 2024 by the National College Attainment Network asks why and shows that many students likely assume—falsely—that they’re ineligible for aid.
The demise of Limestone University happened so abruptly that even the dean of its College of Health Sciences had no idea how dire things were. Suzanne Lindley knew about the enrollment declines, the draws from the endowment, and the multimillion-dollar federal loan. But she thought the measures were temporary steps to help the Christian university steady itself.
When Limestone’s death notice came, just a week before its spring 2025 commencement ceremony, Lindley said she felt “blindsided.” Now Lindley, students, and others are hoping for a miracle.
Liz Clark would have lost a bet on the massive Republican tax and spending bill passed and signed into law last month.
Clark, vice president for policy and research at the National Association of College and University Business Officers, says she didn’t expect the bill to be finalized until early fall. While only off by a few months, Clark’s missed guess illustrates just one of many unexpected developments for higher education—and the world—since President Donald Trump retook office in January.
Since January, the Trump administration has waged war on the nation’s wealthiest and most prestigious universities, freezing billions of dollars in research grants to Harvard University and blasting away at Columbia University's institutional autonomy.
But collateral damage from these attacks has engulfed schools of all types, including the country’s 1,100 community colleges, which educate about 6.4 million undergraduates each year—roughly 40 percent of the national total and more than twice as many as are enrolled at every highly selective college and university in the country combined.
Like many Detroiters, Tawana Holley arrived at the nonprofit Focus: HOPE looking for a better job—and a better life. Throughout her 54 years living in the city, she had grieved the loss of multiple relatives and spent most of her adulthood working in low-wage jobs, including as a cemetery groundskeeper, a parking enforcement officer, and a van driver for hospital patients.
Several professors at Harvard University have sent a letter to the school's leadership urging them not to cross certain lines as the nation’s oldest and richest institution engages in negotiations with the Trump administration.
The letter outlines four “key values” that faculty members say they need to keep in mind when working toward a deal with President Donald Trump. Among the values highlighted is an assurance that the government gets no control of who leads the university or any of its departments.
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