Top Higher Education News for Wednesday
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Lumina Foundation is committed to increasing the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees, certificates and other credentials to 60 percent by 2025.

December 18, 2024

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Minnesota Promised Free College Tuition. Housing and Living Costs Still Loom Large.

Ava Kian, The Chronicle of Higher Education

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This year, Minnesota has wiped out tuition bills for thousands of students applying to its public colleges. But big costs remain for some families.

 

That’s because affording college requires paying for more than just tuition. North Star Promise, the state’s new free-tuition program for families earning less than $80,000 a year, is advancing in making college less expensive for low- and middle-income families. However, some students are discovering firsthand that this does not automatically make college more affordable.

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What Actually Moves the Needle on Student Success?

Ashley Mowreader, Inside Higher Ed

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Across higher education, colleges, universities, and other organizations are piloting initiatives to help students stay enrolled and ultimately earn a credential or degree. But what does the research say works best?

 

A recent project from the Brookings Institution investigates two decades of data on interventions for college access and completion, finding three types of programs that can create change in institutional student success metrics: comprehensive programs, personalized advising, and low-touch information sharing.

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Apprenticeships Are a Trending Alternative to College—But There’s a Hitch

Jon Marcus, The Hechinger Report

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Joey Cook was 17 and a junior in high school when he heard about a way to learn a profession while getting paid: by landing an apprenticeship. But there was one problem: If he wanted an apprenticeship, he’d have to find it himself.

 

Cook got lucky. A local HVAC company happened to be looking for apprentices and hired him. But his experience spotlights a big hitch in the movement for apprenticeships, even as they’re being pushed by policymakers and politicians of all stripes and expanded beyond the trades to jobs in tech and other industries: Demand for apprenticeships is outpacing their availability.

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International Students Stay in the US for the Holidays, Fearing Their Visa Status Under Trump

Ayesha Roscoe, NPR

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College students are wrapping up their finals, and many are getting ready to leave campus for winter vacation. At the University of Massachusetts Amherst, that's a nearly six-week break.

 

But with the second Trump administration set to begin in a few weeks, international college students are facing a difficult decision. Should they return home for winter break? And if they do, should they fly back to the United States before the inauguration? New England Public Media's Jill Kaufman explains more in this interview.

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Living Life Offline: Social Media Effects on the Success of Black College Students Amid Today’s Political Challenges

Amari Henderson, Diverse Issues in Higher Education

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Social media has become a battlefield of ideas, a forum for activism, and, increasingly, a source of stress for students of color.

 

In the current political climate, where debates over systemic racism, diversity programs, and the state of free speech dominate on a national scale, these platforms can either empower or hinder the success and outcomes of students, writes Amari Henderson, a doctoral student at Howard University, in this perspective piece.

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Here’s How California Plans to Get Millions of Adults Without College Degrees Into Better Jobs

Adam Echelman, CalMatters

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More than seven million adults in California lack a college degree—and they typically make less money as a result. This week, standing in a welding classroom at Shasta College, a community college in Redding, Gov. Gavin Newsom presented an outline on how he plans to change that trajectory.

 

One component of his new plan focuses on translating students’ work experience into college credits. It’s already a priority for California’s 116 community colleges, which have a goal to provide at least 250,000 students with college credits for certain kinds of work experience.

HUMAN WORK AND LEARNING

Brown Center Scholars Look Ahead to Education in 2025

Brookings Institution

Young Adults Navigating Media Information

Jimmeka Anderson, New America

College Students ‘Cautiously Curious’ About AI Despite Mixed Messages From Schools, Employers

Paige Gross, Alabama Reflector

Essay: Civic Illiteracy a Growing Problem Among College Students

Clare Doyle, American Council of Trustees and Alumni

Blog: Colleges’ Career Success Stats Don’t Tell the Whole Story About How Their Graduates Are Doing After They Get Their Degree

Kerry Shackett and Patricia Boera, The Conversation

Perspective: Reimagining Pathways to the American Dream

Tracy Lorenz, SmartBrief

RACIAL JUSTICE AND EQUITY

Idaho Board of Education Faces Vote on Anti-DEI Resolution

Sara Weissman, Inside Higher Ed

Johns Hopkins University Sees ‘Catastrophic Decline’ in First-Year Class Diversity

Bri Hatch, WYPR

Myrtle Beach Lawmaker Wants DEI Out of Higher Education Admissions, Employment Practices

Adam Benson, WBTW

Professor: UI Diversity Offices to Close

Anthony Kuipers, Moscow-Pullman Daily News

Opinion: Unrepresented Oklahoma Students Need More Help Finding Jobs

Jenny Ha, The Oklahoman

COLLEGE ENROLLMENTS

Declining Interest in Colleges Hits OU

Ray Carter, The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs 

Back to School: Older Adults Returning to College Is a Growing Trend Fueled by New Career Goals

Milwaukee Independent

West Virginia Community and Technical College System Reports 7.8% Enrollment Surge for Fall 2024

Noah Jeffries, WV News

Cape Fear Community College Holds 'One-Stop Enrollment Night'

Keelin Berrian, WWAYTV3

Another Local College Sees Continued Enrollment Increase

Courtney Pedersen, The Beaumont Enterprise

STATE POLICY

Trump's White House Return Raises Uncertainty for Massachusetts Higher Education Officials

Carrie Healy, New England Public Media

State Financial Aid on the Rise

Liam Knox, Inside Higher Ed

Where Does North Dakota Rank as a State for College Students?

Edward Segal, KX News

Rewriting Texas Education: Why Education Policy Will Be a Top Priority Next Session

Michael Adkison, CBS Austin

Higher Ed Budget Request Sets Sights on Pathways to High-Demand Jobs

André Salkin, The Santa Fe New Mexican

Opinion: Professors Ruined Gen Ed. Florida Is Fixing It.

Mark Bauerlein and Scott Yenor, The Chronicle of Higher Education

NEW REPORTS AND EVENTS

States Should Drop Accreditation Requirements for New Colleges

American Enterprise Institute

Webinar: Welcome to the Next-Gen Campus: Evolution in Motion

University Business

Equity Before Adequacy in Higher Education Funding

New America

Immigration and Waning U.S. Labor Force Growth

The Econofact Network

Webinar: Carnegie Elective Classifications: 2024 Year in Review

American Council on Education

State Funding's Influence on College Completion

Bipartisan Policy Center

luminafoundation.org
Daily Lumina News is edited by Patricia Brennan.

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