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.
Many students and families are scrutinizing the return on investment of a college degree today, emphasizing the importance of acquiring practical skills that lead to tangible job opportunities.
Jane Swift, former governor of Massachusetts, explains how her organization, Education at Work, supports first-generation and Pell-eligible students with paid, career-relevant jobs during college. The conversation also dives into the role of states in driving innovation and where bipartisan opportunities still exist in connecting higher education to the workforce.
The University of the People is tuition-free, but it's not totally free. A variety of fees can add up to about $5,000 for a bachelor's degree.
But that, university officials say, makes it accessible to millions of prospective students who could not otherwise afford a college education. Additionally, students have up to 10 years to complete their degree.
Barika Edwards recalls the day a professor draped a brightly colored stole around her shoulders several years ago. She received the fabric sash during a celebration honoring Harvard University’s Black graduates.
This week, Edwards will graduate from Harvard again—this time with her master's degree—and hopes to relive that moment. But affinity graduations like the one Edwards participated in almost didn’t take place this year.
More than one million international students attend colleges across the United States each year, bringing billions of dollars to the American economy and bolstering the nation’s science and technology sectors.
Many of these students now find themselves in the crosshairs of the Trump administration’s battle to exert control over some of the nation’s colleges and universities.
A lot has changed in higher education since President Donald Trump took office, from the dismantling of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs to the cancellation of billions of dollars in federal research funding.
In this interview, three graduating college seniors talk about how these changes and others have upended their post-graduation plans and how the last semester has made them think differently about what college is all about.
For decades, universities have relied on federal funding to run labs, pay graduate workers, and cover indirect research costs, all in service of advancing the nation’s renowned research enterprise. The government funneled around $60 billion to universities in the 2023 fiscal year alone. Now, that long-standing relationship is teetering as the Trump administration terminates hundreds of federal research grants.
Some foundations are offering much-needed stopgaps for researchers. But that’s not a permanent fix, scientists and advocates say.
