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.
Belonging is a key predictor in student success; research shows that students who are engaged in campus activities and feel they belong to a community within their college are more likely to stick with their studies and graduate with a degree.
A new study from the educational consulting group EAB confirms that sentiment. Specifically, the report shows that first-year students at two-year colleges want help connecting with peers on campus. The study also indicates a need for mechanisms for students to report harassment and connect with mental health supports.
The academic choices you make as a teenager can shape the rest of your life: If you take high school classes for college credit, you're more likely to go to college; and if you take at least 12 credits of classes during your first year there, you're more likely to finish your degree.
These and insights from thousands of other studies can all be traced to a trove of data the federal government started collecting more than 50 years ago. However, the federal government abruptly halted that effort earlier this year.
A growing number of campus mental health professionals, often referred to as “embedded counselors,” are now working out of college dorms and other academic buildings. School leaders contend the setup reduces the stigma around getting help while also making the counselors more visible and accessible at a time when 37 percent of college students say they are grappling with depression.
The shift shows how colleges are rethinking the way they deliver mental health care by adopting a model designed to meet students where they are, ideally before they face a crisis.
Although the nation once broadly agreed on the value of a college degree, the subject has become a battlefield, often fueled by a fundamental misunderstanding of the facts.
While caught up in this narrative, many people are losing sight of the bigger picture: American public universities are unmatched engines of personal success and national prosperity, writes Gary May, the chancellor of the University of California, Davis, in this op-ed. At the same time, university leaders must acknowledge the concerns underlying these critiques and forge common ground to protect the nation’s investment in education, he says.
For Myssan Al Laysy Stouhi, the path to a Ph.D. has been anything but conventional. Born and raised in Lebanon, she has witnessed firsthand the challenges that educators face when teaching becomes an act of resilience rather than routine.
Now, as she prepares to graduate this December from Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s Composition and Applied Linguistics program, Stouhi is transforming her lived experience into groundbreaking research that amplifies the voices of teachers working in crisis contexts.
The sweeping nature and uncertain ramifications of President Trump’s latest deal with universities are sowing confusion and consternation among higher education leaders and experts for, among other things, its unpredictable impact on college finances.
In attempting to codify Trump’s vision, the agreement, called the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education, could make it more difficult for institutions to keep afloat.