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.
For the last several years, teaching college students has presented one challenge after the next. The isolation of the pandemic. Dwindling class attendance. Students’ use of artificial-intelligence tools to do work they’re supposed to do themselves.
Through all of this, Martha Mullally has leaned on the same solution: helping students build connections with their classmates. Learning, after all, is social. When students get to know each other, they’re more likely to come to class and do the work. And when they feel comfortable around each other, more engaging forms of work are also possible.
When the Trump administration proposed a compact with nine institutions last week, requesting sweeping reforms in exchange for preferential treatment, most leaders of the campuses involved had little to say publicly beyond acknowledging they had received the proposal and were “reviewing” it.
Elsewhere across higher education, multiple associations and faculty members quickly excoriated the proposal, with critics arguing that the compact would impose the Trump administration’s viewpoints on colleges and universities, strip academic freedom, override governance standards, and gut campus diversity, among a litany of other concerns.
The American Association of Community Colleges has released a new report calling on the nation's community colleges to fundamentally reimagine their long-term planning strategies to address mounting external pressures and to continue meeting the needs of students, communities, and employers.
The report also addresses artificial intelligence as a transformative force, noting that 94 percent of U.S. firms expect AI and information processing technologies to radically change their operations between 2025 and 2030. Community colleges must integrate AI literacy across programs while deploying the technology to improve operations and personalized learning, the report states.
Starting this fall, all California high schools were supposed to offer an ethnic studies course—but the ambitious mandate has fallen flat, upending a years-long effort designed to impart academic lessons about groups whose history was long overlooked.
Education experts say the lack of follow-through represents a possible shift away from diversity initiatives in California classrooms—part of a nationwide trend as the Trump administration seeks to slash diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts across schools and the federal government.
For years, persistent concerns about rising tuition, student debt, and an uncertain job market have led many to question whether college is still worth it. Meanwhile, headlines frequently feature graduates who are underemployed, overwhelmed, or uncertain about transforming their degrees into careers.
But the conversation is broken, and the framing is far too simplistic. The real question isn’t whether college prepares students for careers. It’s how. And the “how” is more complex, personal, and misunderstood than most people realize, writes Bridget Burns, the founding CEO of the University Innovation Alliance, in this commentary.
Chris Lowery has a phrase he repeats often to describe his feelings about higher education in Indiana. “I’m pleased,” he likes to say, “but not satisfied.”
That sentiment buoyed Lowery in his three years leading Indiana’s Commission for Higher Education, which governs the state’s public colleges and universities. Earlier this year, Lowery announced plans to step down this month, citing a recent health scare. Katie Jenner, the state’s secretary of education, will become commissioner in addition to her current role. In this interview, Lowery reflects on his time as commissioner, the state of higher education in Indiana, and what’s next.
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