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.
We live in a world where people regularly weaponize language for political, economic, or other purposes. One of the best examples of this in recent years has been how critics of higher education have seized on the term “liberal arts” to confuse and distort what it means.
While the words "liberal arts" may be archaic and misunderstood, the reality is that the argument for the value of liberal arts degrees cannot be won by simply repeating that they are worthwhile. We need a better way to talk about the important skills that these programs develop. They are the durable skills that employers overwhelmingly value, such as critical thinking, problem-solving, and teamwork. And they are the skills that will help people adapt and innovate as artificial intelligence reshapes work, writes Lumina Foundation's Jamie Merisotis in his latest column for Forbes.
At a time when polls show two-thirds of Americans think a higher education is no longer worth the price, Forsyth Technical Community College has a message for them. “College,” it says, “could cost you nothing.”
The planned marketing slogan is a reference to the most dramatic expansion in more than 50 years of federal grants for education after high school—and the reality that few consumers know they could benefit from the kinds of programs for which hundreds of millions of dollars will be available as soon as this summer.
For decades, the campus of New College of Florida operated as a rare sanctuary. As the state’s legislatively designated honors college, NCF was renowned for its academic eccentricities, eschewing traditional letter grades for written narrative evaluations. But more importantly, it organically cultivated a reputation as a fiercely safe and deeply LGBTQ-friendly institution. It was a place where queer and transgender youth, many fleeing less tolerant environments, could find both community and rigorous academic freedom.
For many, however, that institution is no longer recognizable today.
Ohio State is one of several institutions making an explicit pledge to make all of its students savvy in artificial intelligence. The incentive for doing so is clear: to signal to parents and students a proactive response to one of the biggest anxieties about the workplace after graduation. Surveys indicate that a majority of students believe learning about AI in college is important, even if they have reservations about other aspects of the technology, like its impact on the workforce or the environment.
But it’s not clear that students, like everyone else, understand how AI will be used on the job. To add to the complexity, “AI” is an umbrella term for a range of rapidly evolving technologies with various applications—some of which can become obsolete quickly.
Jonathan Juarez was working in Los Angeles to help support his parents and brother when he decided it was time to finish his bachelor’s degree. Rather than stay local, the 30-year-old enrolled at the California State University’s northernmost campus, roughly 700 miles away, drawn by a brand-new major at a university in the midst of reinvention.
After more than a century as Cal State Humboldt, the campus became a polytechnic university in 2022. Since the name change, the university has launched new interdisciplinary programs that emphasize applied learning and combined disciplines.
For many students, the cost of college extends beyond tuition. Expenses such as childcare, transportation, food, and housing can derail educational plans long before students earn a degree. Austin Community College is tackling those barriers through a tuition-free model paired with wraparound student supports.
Two years after its launch, the Free Tuition Pilot Program has contributed to a 59 percent increase in ACC’s overall enrollment. The effort also appears to be influencing how students engage with the college once they enroll. In fall 2025, 51 percent of free-tuition students attended full time, compared with 28 percent of the overall student population.
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