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.
The University of California at Los Angeles is caught in the middle of a political battle. On one side is the Trump administration, seeking to secure a $1 billion fine and concessions from the larger university system over claims of antisemitism at UCLA. On the other is Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, a Democrat, who styles himself as an aggressive foil to Trump and is pushing the system to fight back.
In the line of fire are rank-and-file academics at UCLA and across the UC system whose work has been hamstrung by a freeze of more than $500 million in federal research funding—and who sense that the fight isn’t really about them.
The fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, whose political movement targeted liberal faculty and pushed the boundaries of free speech, immediately took on powerful symbolic resonance as a pivotal event in higher education’s long-running culture wars.
Kirk, who founded Turning Point USA, a provocative right-leaning group popular on college campuses, was killed last week during a campus speaking engagement at Utah Valley University. His death shocked the country, lending a dark gravity to already-contentious debates about political polarization, intolerance, and free expression on college campuses. This podcast discusses Kirk’s death and what it means for higher education.
As conversations swirl about how colleges and universities can demonstrate their value to students, a new tool from a testing giant aims to help students better connect to the workforce.
But whether Educational Testing Service can succeed in addressing what experts argue is a critical need remains to be seen. Two institutions are on board to pilot the new career navigation system, called Futurenav Compass, after which ETS hopes to expand to more institutions.
A quiet but consequential shift is reshaping higher education: more adults are turning to short-term training programs as a fast, flexible, affordable way to build new skills, improve job prospects, and increase earning potential. Fueling that momentum is a new law passed by Congress earlier this year that expands Pell Grant eligibility to short-term programs.
It’s an overdue change reflecting adult students’ economic reality and businesses’ needs, according to Lumina Foundation's Chauncy Lennon and Brooke DeRenzis of the National Skills Coalition. But expanding access is only part of the work. They explain more in this essay.
At California State University, Monterey Bay, what used to be the Office of Inclusive Excellence is now the Office of Community and Belonging. At Cal State East Bay, the Office of Diversity removed the phrase “critical race theory” from its mission statement.
These are some of the subtle linguistic shifts in California State University efforts mentioning diversity, equity, and inclusion during the 10 months following President Donald Trump’s election to a second term. Like many colleges nationwide, the largest four-year public university system in the country is walking a tightrope on diversity work since Trump’s return to office, aiming to stay steady in supporting students without teetering into trouble with federal officials.
Officials at Harvard University say the institution has started receiving notices that many federal grants halted by the Trump administration will be reinstated after a federal judge ruled the cuts were illegal.
It’s an early signal that federal research funding could begin flowing to Harvard after months of deadlock with the White House, but it’s yet to be seen if money will arrive. Meanwhile, the government says it will appeal the judge’s decision.
