Lumina Foundation is committed to increasing the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees, certificates and other credentials to 60 percent by 2025.
Career readiness is a growing undercurrent in higher education—driven in part by outside pressure from families and students to provide a return on investment for the high costs of tuition—but also pushed by an evolving job market and employers who attribute less weight to a college major or degree for early talent hiring.
But with a fraction of students engaging with the career center on campus, delivering career development and professional skills to all students can seem like an impossible task. Enter the career champion.
Fewer California high school students are completing federal financial aid applications. According to recent data, the number of seniors completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid has dropped by about 48,000 students, or 25 percent, compared to this time last year.
Some analysts say it is a sign that students may fear the Trump administration will use their sensitive data for immigration enforcement.
In a confirmation hearing that was heated at times and interrupted repeatedly by the shouts of protesters, Secretary of Education nominee Linda McMahon was grilled by committee Democrats about the White House's plans to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education.
The fact that the Trump administration has already begun cutting department staff and programs made yesterday's hearing less a referendum on McMahon's views or her qualifications—she is arguably one of President Trump's least controversial Cabinet nominees—and more a referendum on Trump's stated plans.
Over the past 15 years, college attainment across all racial and ethnic groups has increased. Still, states have more to do to support and educate students who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color.
In this interview, Lumina Foundation's Courtney Brown discusses the barriers affecting degree attainment for BIPOC populations and how some states, through strategic investments and thoughtful policies, are breaking down those barriers to ensure pathways to success.
The U.S. Department of Education administers billions of dollars in federal Pell Grants and student loans, which help vulnerable populations attend college and ascend the social mobility ladder. The department monitors colleges that accept federal aid to ensure they don’t hawk junk degrees that lead to poor-paying jobs. It also investigates when colleges that receive federal financial aid discriminate against students for their race, sex, or disability.
Now, the department’s future is on the line. The following stories illustrate what's at stake.
Around the country, dozens of universities and colleges have begun to scrub websites and change programming in response to the Trump administration's widening crusade against diversity, equity, and inclusion. But much remains unclear about the legality and reach of President Trump’s new orders.
