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.
During the first year of Donald Trump's presidency, university leaders have received a thorough education in self-defense. Citing concerns about antisemitism and unchecked liberalism on college campuses, the Trump administration has clawed back or frozen hundreds of millions of dollars in research funding at numerous highly selective universities. From there, the playbook looks familiar: force universities to the bargaining table, extract some political concessions, and collect for the government millions of dollars in fines.
Washington insiders and judges say Trump’s tactics are legally dubious at best, breaking with procedural rules and even violating the U.S. Constitution. But will any of that matter in the end?
President Donald Trump is demanding a $1 billion payment from Harvard University to end his prolonged standoff with the Ivy League campus, doubling the amount he sought previously as both sides appear to move further from reaching a deal.
The president raised the stakes on social media this week, claiming Harvard has been “behaving very badly.” He said the university must pay the government directly as part of any deal—something Harvard has opposed—and that his administration wants “nothing further to do” with Harvard in the future. The outburst appears to now leave both sides firmly entrenched in a conflict that Trump previously said was nearing an end.
In America's higher education culture war, the typically sedate college accreditation process plays a pivotal role. That’s because accreditation isn’t just a gold seal on a college website. It’s the switch that turns federal student aid on and off.
Today, the gatekeeper to federal money has stepped into the spotlight, pulled there by politics, a growing insistence on measurable outcomes, and a federal approach that treats accreditation less like a closed guild and more like a marketplace.
College professors once taught free from political interference, with mostly their students and colleagues privy to their lectures and book assignments. Now, they are being watched by state officials, senior administrators, and students themselves.
The increased oversight comes as conservatives expand their movement to curb what they say is a liberal tilt in university classrooms and as the Trump administration prioritizes changing the politics and culture on campuses. All of this, some professors and free-expression groups say, is leading to a wave of censorship and self-censorship that they argue is curbing academic freedom and learning.
When Gov. Gretchen Whitmer launched Michigan Reconnect—a program designed to help adults either begin or finish their college education—in 2021, she described it as a way for Michiganders to get a tuition-free associate degree and land a good-paying job.
While it’s too early to know whether the program actually led to those good jobs, a recent study found that the effort boosted adult enrollment at community colleges by 38 percent in the Wolverine State—or about 623 more students per campus, on average. The paper considers adult students to be ages 25 and older.
When Jonathan Clauzel first heard about LaGuardia Community College’s barbershop sessions, he was immediately intrigued.
The music recording technology major quickly discovered that the sessions provided much more than just a haircut; they gave him and other young Black men space to talk about issues they care about, from career paths to the social challenges they face.
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