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.
When colleges close, they leave sprawling facilities behind. Some closed campuses are converted for other uses. Many have been reborn as K-12 schools. Others have been turned into housing, breweries, and rehabilitation centers.
But converting colleges for other uses can be fraught with challenges. Colleges are not designed like contemporary business parks, which poses difficulties for developers. Deferred maintenance—which is a growing issue on many campuses across the nation—can also be especially problematic at colleges where leaders staved off repairs for decades amid financial struggles.
Three-year bachelor’s degrees that require fewer credits than the traditional four-year kind are gaining traction across the country, as institutions facing enrollment declines hope the new degrees will attract students unwilling to spend the usual amount of time and money that it takes to graduate. And states require these graduates to fill job vacancies.
But while earning bachelor’s degrees with fewer credits may appeal to some students, the idea is so new that there’s a key unanswered question: whether employers, graduate schools, and licensing agencies will accept them.
The widespread shutdown last week of Canvas, an online learning management system used by thousands of colleges and schools, upended final exam season on many campuses and created havoc for students, professors, and administrators. The episode, prompted by hackers seeking ransom, is another reminder of how much higher ed has transformed over the past decade.
From online instruction to the electronic tracking of student progress to the use of artificial intelligence, colleges and universities are leveraging technology like never before. Students are technifying their approaches to education, too, often outpacing their instructors in the realm of AI. And all of this seems to be happening for one primary reason: Efficiency. But what happens to education when it’s built for speed?
Geography plays an important role for rural students when it comes to college access, shaping their opportunities and their campus experiences. Meanwhile, threats to federal funding for TRIO programs could make college access even harder for this demographic.
Mara Tieken is a professor at Bates College whose research centers on racial and educational equity in rural schools and communities. In this interview, she shares her insights about the rural students she followed into an elite institution for her most recent book, how their challenges represent the experiences of many rural students in the country, and what support for rural students on campus looks like.
The University of Chicago will provide free tuition to students of families earning less than $250,000 a year, creating one of the most generous financial-aid offers in the nation at a moment when lawmakers and parents are scrutinizing the value of a college degree.
Colleges have been in a race to raise the income limits for free tuition in recent years. University leaders explain the move as a way to make an institution with a $98,000-per-year sticker price more accessible to students from modest backgrounds.
Deciding where—and whether—to go to college has never been easy. A college degree was once considered the surest path to a middle-class life. But a growing number of Americans now say they’re not sure it’s worth the price tag. For decades, tuition has outpaced inflation. And student debt has become the defining financial burden for a generation.
So, how are these financial pressures changing what students and families expect to get out of a college degree? And for those who do decide to go, how do they make the most of it? Three education experts—reporter Jon Marcus, Kathleen DeLaski, founder of the Education Design Lab, and LinkedIn's Aneesh Raman—weigh in.
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