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.
Tech evangelists may be dazzled by the promise of artificial intelligence, but two well-designed new studies—one in China and one by a leading AI company—signal trouble ahead.
The two studies were conducted by a team of international researchers who studied how Chinese students were using ChatGPT to help with English writing and by researchers at Anthropic, the company behind the AI chatbot Claude. They both come to a similar conclusion: Many students are letting AI do important brain work for them.
Colleges would have to pay millions of dollars each year to reimburse the government for the unpaid loans of their students under a new accountability measure recently proposed as part of a larger House budget bill.
And while the concept has gained some bipartisan support, higher education institutions have repeatedly argued that it is difficult to create a fair accountability system when many of the variables involved are out of an institution’s control and depend on the decisions of individual students and borrowers.
For scientists hoping to study in the United States, Europe has a clear message: Come here instead.
Colleges and universities are starting to fear that great minds may do just that if the Trump administration keeps cutting research funding and detaining foreign-born students.
Linda McMahon, the country’s top education official, wants to reopen talks with Harvard University but offered little indication that the Trump administration would consider changing its aggressive tactics to ease the standoff with the institution.
Instead, she says U.S. officials have more ways to pressure Harvard to submit to President Trump’s agenda, and she blames the university’s lawsuit against the administration for stifling talks.
The pandemic’s effects on higher education caused unprecedented financial setbacks for America’s colleges and universities. Institutions lost billions of dollars in revenue, with many forced to enact large budget cuts, furlough or lay off staff and faculty, and shutter academic programs.
As severe as the financial fallout might have been—some estimates place the cumulative lost revenue at more than $100 billion—the eventual impact of Trump administration policies could eventually bring about even bigger financial hardships for the sector than those caused by COVID-19.
Even in 2025—a year marked by economic and political turmoil, steep federal cuts for colleges and universities, and a changing academic landscape shaped by the Trump administration’s anti-diversity policies—high school graduation day feels deeply personal.
The conflicting feelings can be even more intense for first-generation college students.
