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.
Early college. Dual enrollment. Dual credit. Concurrent enrollment. Whatever the name, the idea is simple. Students start taking college courses while they’re still in high school. That way they can accumulate credits and spend less time and money in actual college.
But like much in higher education, there are traps and pitfalls. Not all of those credits transfer, for example. In this podcast, experts provide a road map to successfully navigating the world of dual enrollment.
Hassan Kamal Wattoo, 25, had received threatening calls for months from Pakistani authorities angry about critical articles he wrote. When he earned a scholarship to study law at the University of California, Berkeley, he jumped at the opportunity to leave Pakistan and thought he might work in the United States after that.
Wattoo now plans to return to Pakistan after he receives his degree. He's not alone. Once drawn to American universities as havens, some students from abroad are finding the United States is not the bedrock of free speech they had expected.
Several Claflin University students were perusing old campus photos when one image caught a student’s eye—it was a picture of his grandmother from her college days. He knew they attended the same Historically Black College and University in South Carolina, but he had never seen a picture of her in her younger years.
For Cassandra Illidge of the HBCU Grants Program at Getty Images, such moments both drive and affirm the company’s expanding work with HBCUs to preserve photos, documents, and records in partnership with the genealogy website Ancestry.
Howard University senior Dezmond Rosier planned to apply to the U.S. Department of Education after graduating, but cuts to the department’s workforce and the Trump administration’s efforts to ditch anything related to diversity, equity, and inclusion prompted him to change course.
In this interview, Rosier and three other students share their thoughts on graduating into a job market that has seen DEI rollbacks, less outward enthusiasm for recruiting Black workers, and signs of a cooldown in hiring for everyone.
Middle schoolers have long been eligible to enroll in college classes in California, though only a few high-achieving students actually do it. By offering a college class at a middle school—especially one in a high-poverty area—the San Jose Evergreen Community College District is looking to make that enrollment easier.
But with so few programs, there is little research about whether students are benefitting, and the local faculty union is worried middle school students might not be ready.
The Trump administration is predicting a renaissance for U.S. manufacturing. Whether or not a manufacturing boom happens, the industry is already struggling to fill 450,000 open jobs.
Some of the roughly 200,000 members of the U.S. military who transition to civilian life every year could be a good fit in manufacturing roles. A new partnership aims to make that happen by connecting employers in the industry with veterans and transitioning service members and offering them digital credentials that recognize relevant skills earned in the military.
