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.
Fourteen years ago this month, former president Barack Obama announced the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, a relief for immigrants brought to the United States as children, who are often referred to as Dreamers. The new policy allowed them to legally work in the country and protected them from deportation. And with new career options ahead of them, many young people with DACA status pursued higher education, hoping for a pathway to permanent citizenship in the future.
Gaby Pacheco is one of the advocates who spearheaded DACA’s creation. In this interview, she reflects on where the program stands today.
About 35 percent more Michigan women than men earn a degree or certificate, according to 2024-25 state data. So last April, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued an executive order to focus more attention and resources on getting men into certificate programs and college, including by boosting support for groups that are committed to building a college-going culture.
Whitmer’s plan has been slow to get off the ground, in part because of a delayed state budget, and overall the state is not on pace to meet its goal of increasing the proportion of adult state residents with education past high school to 60 percent by 2030. But advocates are hopeful that added attention and funding could help move more men into higher education.
Workforce Pell goes live July 1. Community colleges will then know which occupations were approved in their home state. Pennsylvania approved 19 eligible occupations for the new grant, and North Carolina approved 364. One federal statute creates a nineteenfold difference in how wide the door opens.
By July 1, every community college will know its state’s list length. What matters is the move it sets up. A short list is an invitation to invest quickly and confidently in the fields the state has already backed. A long list invites the college to build on what it knows best: its employers, labor market, and students. Either way, it is the college’s opportunity to define what Workforce Pell delivers.
Academic libraries have long struggled with shrinking budgets, yet some are now making room for a new position: the artificial-intelligence librarian. That’s because at a time when many colleges are grappling with the impacts of generative AI, some are hoping librarians can lead them through the thicket of challenges raised by the new technology.
Several colleges are also asking librarians to weigh in on a range of other issues, such as policies on the appropriate use of AI and AI detection tools. In response, a growing number of college libraries are creating new job titles to reflect those new responsibilities.
An increasingly popular way to earn college credits doesn’t involve college. Unaccredited and unregulated online learning platforms offer a wide range of courses that are typically cheaper and faster than traditional college classes, helping students make progress toward an undergraduate degree. Some of the courses can be completed in a matter of hours, while others typically take weeks.
Some advocates say the online platforms provide a key path for nontraditional students to earn a degree, especially people who are juggling work or family responsibilities and can’t afford to spend four years or more in a traditional college program. Others worry that the platforms make it too easy for students to fly through coursework without actually learning the material. There are no class meetings. No required lectures. No discussion groups.
In the past three years, the California prison system has spent $23.2 million distributing 30,000 laptops to all incarcerated students. Almost half of those went to the 13,000 inmates enrolled in community college, where students are increasingly doing their coursework online.
However, some students and faculty debate whether online courses are as effective as in-person courses. Teachers say online options reduce disruptions when students have to miss class due to court hearings or prison lockdowns. Meanwhile, some students contend they prefer in-person courses because they can build invaluable connections. In either mode of learning, inmates say using laptops helps them prepare for life on the outside.
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