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.
A recent proclamation from President Donald Trump has become the latest policy change to scramble colleges’ assumptions about international education and finance.
The new rule will require employers to pay the government $100,000 to sponsor a highly skilled employee from abroad with an H-1B visa. For higher education, this means added challenges—in hiring international talent that has long been a backbone for research universities and more potential difficulty for students seeking visas for postgraduate employment.
The Trump administration has made another move that historians say is an attempt to sanitize American history, but one the administration argued is necessary to ensure students have respect for the country.
Last week, Education Secretary Linda McMahon outlined a new plan for how her department would promote “patriotic education” by adding it to the list of priorities that can drive decisions for discretionary grants, including those that support programs at colleges and universities.
The New Jersey Institute for Social Justice has released a new report calling for dramatic increases in state higher education funding and policy reforms to expand college access, as federal attacks on diversity programs and student aid threaten to worsen educational inequities.
The report cautions that the Trump administration's efforts to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education, limit student debt relief, and prohibit diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives at federally funded institutions place the state's higher education system at a critical crossroads.
For the past decade, national experts have been pining for more programs that increase the number of students pursuing science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). In 2024, the National Science Board issued a plan on how to reach these “Missing Millions” via outreach to women, as well as those from low-income families, racial minorities, and other underrepresented groups.
However, the federal government has taken a u-turn instead of ensuring that students from all backgrounds see a way into these fields. The blow being dealt to the nation's pipeline of young people in STEM, as well as STEM workers seeking to upskill, could set the United States back for generations to come, experts predict.
When Julie Wake and her husband put their first three children through college, they turned to Parent Plus loans. At the time, the funding allowed parents of undergraduates to borrow up to the full cost of attendance from the federal government.
But that opportunity may be out of reach for two of the Wakes’ children—a senior and sophomore in high school—now that the government is imposing caps on Parent Plus loans.
Higher education in the United States is being challenged, roiled, and shaken to its core. It has become the perfect foil for all sides, all parties, all sectors, and all comers. Step right up and take a swing. Everyone else is. But why?
How is it that higher education has become the great unifier in a divided nation, the favored scapegoat, the target of collective anger, and the one blamed for all that now ails us as a nation and a society?
