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.
Students at colleges and universities nationwide are protesting the presence of Customs and Border Protection recruiters at campus career fairs in the wake of massive immigration raids and the high-profile killings of two U.S. citizens by immigration officials. Some have asked institutional leaders to disinvite the agency altogether.
The student backlash comes amid national outrage over the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration crackdown, which has been criticized for its use of violent tactics and racial profiling.
In a time when we live ever more deeply embedded in the digital ecosystem, Harvard University’s seminar called “Tree” should be a required course for all.
The lessons happen outside a lecture hall, and there's no hefty, Latin-filled botany textbook to wade through. And despite his impeccable credentials, the professor of record, the evolutionary biologist William Friedman, isn’t the one bestowing the weekly installments of instruction on the students, exactly—at least not in the traditional format. Instead, the trees themselves do much of the teaching.
Every industrial revolution begins by creating a new middle class. The steam engine, for example, didn’t just replace blacksmiths; it generated a workforce of machinists, engineers, and factory supervisors who helped build the infrastructure of modern industry.
That same pattern is beginning to resonate today with artificial intelligence. A diversified mix of high-paying, high-demand jobs will define the next wave of economic development. And that's where community colleges come in, writes the founder of NAAIC and vice president of Innovation and Technology Partnerships at Miami Dade College in this op-ed.
When Workforce Pell launches in July 2026, it will mark the first time federal Pell dollars can flow at scale to short-term, workforce-oriented programs, including many noncredit programs. But the real opportunity isn't in the launch itself, experts say. It lies in the long implementation runway that follows.
Workforce Pell will require years of refinement, learning, and system adjustment to meet its potential. That extended timeline creates a rare opening for philanthropy and technical assistance providers to shape how education, workforce, and economic development systems work together, not just to fund more programs, but to improve the systems that produce opportunity and upward mobility.
Meredith Ruland's higher education journey is an increasingly common one. Ruland earned an associate degree at a community college, then enrolled at a small liberal arts school where she hoped to finish her bachelor’s. Overwhelmed by work, her health, and a full course load, she left school in 2024.
As schools face declining enrollments and states worry about maintaining skilled workforces, many are working with a national organization called ReUp Education to reconnect with adult learners like Ruland.
Constance Duffle is a paramedic who serves a vast wilderness region woefully in need of health professionals. She has enrolled in a bachelor's degree program in paramedicine, newly offered at College of the Siskiyous.
Duffle's experience is a promising story in a five-year-old higher education venture that has allowed community colleges to offer bachelor's degrees. At the same time, however, disagreements continue to emerge between California State University and California Community Colleges as competition for students tightens.
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