Top Higher Education News for Tuesday
Lumina

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.

November 4, 2025

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Trump Partially Funds SNAP as Colleges Scramble to Feed Students

Sara Weissman, Inside Higher Ed

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In the last week, campuses scrambled to shore up resources as 42 million Americans, including over a million college students, prepared to lose federal assistance to buy food. Payments for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, didn’t go out on the first of the month as they normally would amid the ongoing government shutdown.

 

Now the Trump administration plans to dole out some of the benefits this month—but not all—in response to two federal court orders.

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Is ‘Intellectual Diversity’ a Trap?

Jack Stripling, College Matters

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As the Trump administration presses colleges and universities to change how they operate, few areas are proving as contentious as the politics of the professoriate. Conservatives have long pushed for colleges to hire more right-leaning faculty, arguing that professors are almost uniformly liberal. There’s a catchphrase for this kind of ideological rebalancing act, and it’s called “intellectual diversity.”

 

The term has been around for decades, but it’s really having a moment right now in today's political discourse. However, some say the history and motives behind the movement warrant scrutiny.

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Howard University Announces $80 Million Gift From MacKenzie Scott

Lauren Lumpkin, The Washington Post

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Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has wired a multimillion-dollar gift to another Historically Black College and University: Howard University. Officials at the school said they received $80 million in unrestricted funds, giving them wide latitude over how to spend the money.

 

Wayne A.I. Frederick, Howard’s interim president, says he plans to use the donation—one of the largest single contributions in the school’s 158-year history—to train more medical professionals, upgrade facilities for the growing university, and stave off the effects of the government’s more than month-long shutdown.

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Achieving a State of Excellence in Higher Ed

New America and Washington Monthly

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In the latest Washington Monthly college rankings, public universities from a handful of states with strong higher education governance systems dominate the top. What are they doing right? And what lessons do they offer about how to provide quality, affordable degrees to students of modest means when help from Capitol Hill is not coming?

 

Watch this replay of a recent webinar in which education experts answer these questions and more.

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How Universities Are Addressing Challenges to Higher Education, Free Speech

Robert Costa, CBS News

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Universities are under increasing pressure from President Donald Trump—from blocked funds for research to attacks on their admission policies and dismantling of diversity programs.

 

In this interview, Princeton University’s Christopher Eisgruber talks about the challenges facing higher education today—on campuses and in Washington—and about his focus on promoting civility and independence. Lee Bollinger (the former president of Columbia and the University of Michigan) and former Harvard University president Lawrence Summers join the conversation to discuss the government's relationship with colleges and universities.

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Seven Ways to Empower Parenting Students

Nichole Kang, eCampus News

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Students with children face unique challenges when it comes to pursuing higher education, including more responsibilities at home, less time for studying, tighter budgets, and higher levels of stress.

 

Community colleges are in a unique position to help. In this essay, Montgomery County Community College’s Nichole Kang describes what her school is doing to create a culture of caring and empowerment so that parenting students are better able to access and complete their higher education pursuits.

HUMAN WORK AND LEARNING

The Latest Climate Solution for Rural Colorado? Career Education in the Skilled Trades

LRae Solomon, KUNC

Amid Uncertainty, Human Connection at the Center of Educause Top 10 Issues for 2026

Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology

The New York College Trying to ‘AI-Proof’ Its Students

Hugh Cameron, Newsweek

EQUITY IN EDUCATION

HACU Conference Opens With Call to Action Amid Challenges Facing Hispanic Students

Jamal Watson, The EDU Ledger

Students Demand Action on Diversity, Safety at MSU Board Meeting

Riley Connell, WILX

A Tumultuous Five Years Leading the Nation’s Diversity Officers

Sara Weissman, Inside Higher Ed

University of Denver Employee Resigns Over Closure of DEI Programs

Jaleesa Irizarry, KUSA

COLLEGE ENROLLMENTS

We Charted the Decline in International Students to the U.S.

Aatish Bhatia, Laura Bult, and Laura Salaberry, The New York Times

Enrollment Trends Are Up at Ohio Universities, With a Notable Exception

Erin Gottsacker, Ideastream

College Admissions: How the Game Is Shifting

Tiffany Camhi, Oregon Public Broadcasting

How the UMaine System Is Preparing for a Looming Enrollment Cliff

Kasey Turman, Bangor Daily News

COLLEGE AFFORDABILITY

Colleges Face a Financial Reckoning. The University of Chicago Is Exhibit A.

Sara Randazzo and Heather Gillers, The Wall Street Journal

What’s Happening With the SAVE Plan?

Student Loan Borrower Assistance Center

Commentary: How the Federal Shutdown Hurts Students Seeking Financial Aid

Devon Graves and Cecilia Rios-Aguilar, EdSource

NEW REPORTS AND EVENTS

An Overview of State Financial Aid
in Illinois, Indiana, and Minnesota

The Education Trust

Webinar: How Colleges Can Comply With Web-Accessibility Laws

The Chronicle of Higher Education

Webinar: Out of Many, One: Creating a Pluralistic Framework for Civics in Higher Education

Hoover Institution

College Is Still Worth It, Even With Student Debt, But We Can Do Better

Brookings Institution

luminafoundation.org
Daily Lumina News is edited by Patricia Brennan.

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