Lumina Foundation is committed to increasing the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees, certificates and other credentials to 60 percent by 2025.
Experts say that by taking the lead in research, lobbying for public policies, and promoting community involvement, higher education could significantly contribute to the advancement of climate change action.
In this interview, Eloy Ortiz Oakley of College Futures Foundation and Lumina Foundation's Jamie Merisotis offer insight on the intersection of climate change, equity, and education—and what leaders, students, and communities can do to shape a more sustainable future.
Two years ago, legislators transformed the way that Texas community colleges are funded. With the 89th Legislature set to convene this month, higher education leaders expect lawmakers to make adjustments to House Bill 8, the legislation that overhauled the system.
For community colleges in particular, HB 8 represents a drastic change, moving a funding formula that was previously tied to enrollment to one that is almost entirely outcomes-based. Additional funding is also linked to transferring to a public four-year university and high school students who complete at least 15 hours of college credit in a specific academic or workforce program.
In 2024, more than 180,000 Kansas and Missouri college students received federal student financial aid in the form of Pell Grants. For many of these students, especially those coming from low-income, minority families, the grants represent the difference between attending college and not.
However, many students are now worried about losing access to those resources following last year's chaotic rollout of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and the incoming Trump administration’s goal of closing the U.S. Department of Education.
Youth advocates call young people like Lucian O'Donnell—16- to 24-year-olds who are not in school, college, or the workforce—“opportunity youth,” focusing on untapped potential, not failure. Many are high school dropouts. As many as half earn a diploma or GED but flounder after graduation.
In a highly polarized country preoccupied with the economy, reengaging opportunity youth has drawn some bipartisan agreement. But will cities be able to help young people like O'Donnell forge a path to stability? Or will he remain one of the kids everyone forgot?
They don’t fit the typical profile of activists at a rally for student debt forgiveness. But on a dreary afternoon last month, a group of senior citizens stood in the rain outside the U.S. Department of Education pleading for relief from a debt that many fear will burden them for the rest of their lives.
In the waning days of the Biden administration, activists are urging the Education Department to discharge the student debt of older borrowers who they say are in no position to repay.
Tatania Campbell always did well in school. But when she started at the University of Virginia, she realized that her education had some gaps. She came to see that her knowledge of history was spotty. She also struggled to write the type of essay her professors expected.
She's far from alone. Educators say accountability and test-based reforms, pandemic-era disruptions, and larger social and economic pressures have fostered ineffective habits in many of today's college students.
