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.
After applying to more than 3,000 jobs and internships over his time at Stony Brook University, 23-year-old Murtaza Mister began noticing that employers were no longer asking only for traditional computer science skills. Job descriptions had evolved from seeking computer fundamentals to being able to use artificial intelligence tools. Halfway through his master’s degree, he realized he needed to incorporate this skill set into his major.
Students across the country are making similar moves as AI reshapes how they think about majors, careers, and the value of college itself. Lumina Foundation's Courtney Brown cautions, however, that students may be better served in this AI era by looking less for “safe” majors and more for programs that teach adaptability, critical thinking, and how to work alongside rapidly changing technology.
Students in both classrooms were considering historic events. In Introduction to Sociology, the discussion was about globalization. Three buildings over, a Civil Discourse class was debating 1798 America and the federal government’s battle with the states for supremacy.
Both courses fall within the broad field of study known as the humanities. But at the University of Florida, the class on early America is part of a growing and well-funded effort to counter what the state considers “woke” liberal indoctrination, while the sociology class is considered a prime example of the problem. One of these classes is being nurtured; the other is being strangled.
Years after COVID-era financial aid scammers first targeted them, California’s community colleges still can’t fully shake the fraud. It's not for lack of trying. Colleges have made progress by using artificial intelligence to sniff out many fake students created by fraudsters. Most institutions now use AI software to screen applicants.
The challenge, however, is that the most sophisticated scammers keep exploiting new loopholes or vulnerabilities to steal financial aid, creating a constant cat-and-mouse chase for the state’s community colleges.
Commencement season is upon us, and across the country, college campuses are steeped in the familiar rituals of academic celebration—the regalia, the processionals, the speeches about possibility and purpose.
But missing from every graduating class is the student who started that journey and did not finish it. That student left campus quietly, without ceremony, carrying debt without the credential that was supposed to justify it. Their story does not appear in graduation programs. It shows up years later in default statistics—and that gap, between who we celebrate and who we leave behind, is one of the most consequential challenges in American higher education today.
To ensure students get all the financial aid to which they’re entitled, states should pursue policies that mandate applicants to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid—the form that unlocks federal grants and loans but has been considered an obstacle to higher education because of its historical complexity.
That’s a key takeaway from a report by EdTrust that examines how four states—Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, and Louisiana—implemented universal FAFSA policies. So far, 14 states have adopted such policies, with nine currently in effect. Experts add that these efforts should also come with funding and personnel.
It’s no secret that a felony conviction negatively affects a person’s ability to land a job upon reentry. After release, formerly incarcerated people must navigate a maze of government systems, workforce programs, and parole requirements. They are rarely prepared to do so, and as a result, nearly half report zero earnings within the first year of their release.
Reducing those barriers has become an increasing focus for a number of philanthropies and colleges. It’s also a growing labor market imperative. The number of working-age adults in the workforce has been dropping for two decades, and the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement has pushed it even lower recently, particularly among men.
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