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.
Harvard University recently approved a controversial plan to overhaul its grading system, including new limits on how many A’s professors can award. The goal: make the letter grade of an A mean something again.
But the debate goes beyond transcripts and GPAs. At a moment of deep skepticism toward elite higher education, some supporters say tougher grading could also help restore trust in institutions like Harvard. Students aren't satisfied, however, and they're pushing back. Meanwhile, professors are divided over a broader question: What are grades actually used for?
The University of Oregon has built an enrollment strategy over decades that hinges on recruiting out-of-state students—so much so that this group now makes up nearly half of all students attending the institution. The strategy has been foundational to the university’s financial stability.
That foundation, though, has cracked, with expected out-of-state domestic enrollment for the fall of 2026 being hundreds of students under target and below the university’s 10-year average for the second consecutive year. As a result, Oregon must now plan for a future with fewer nonresidents, requiring tens of millions in permanent cost reductions.
Pride Month is the latest casualty in higher education’s broad retreat from political controversy, at least at some institutions.
While numerous colleges and corporations blasted out messages supportive of the LGBTQ+ community on social media and held related events at the beginning of June, a few others quietly distanced themselves. Several posted and then deleted Pride Month messages on social media. Others have dropped out of local Pride events or issued directives preventing LGBTQ+ Pride flags from flying on campus.
The artificial intelligence craze has come to the academic catalogs of American colleges and universities. Dozens of schools have recently started majors, minors, and graduate programs in AI, enticing students but also stirring questions about the speed with which they are constructing academic offerings.
Here are some things experts suggest considering before enrolling in an AI degree.
As the demographic cliff arrives, some colleges have a plan. Others are waiting for a miracle. The irony of the enrollment cliff is that the students exist. There are, by most estimates, well over 36 million Americans who have some college experience but no credential. There are millions more working adults who have never set foot on a campus but who need skills, credentials, or degrees to advance in careers that are changing faster than they can track.
The question is not whether these students are out there. According to experts, the question is whether most colleges are designed to serve them.
Last summer, financial analysts predicted that the Trump administration’s restrictions on international enrollment and increased scrutiny of foreign students would create financial risk for colleges. They argued that those policies tarnish the reputational shine of U.S. higher education and could have an outsized impact on tuition revenue, as international students often pay full price.
Enrollment figures have done little to assuage those concerns. Even before Donald Trump's second term as president, growth in international enrollment in the United States had slowed after rebounding following the pandemic.
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