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College students today often face a variety of challenges academic pressures, social and family stresses, financial/ economic hardship stresses, a rapidly shifting technological environment, an increasingly polarized political environment, and more.

In a time of tense scrutiny of higher education, it helps to be reminded why college matters.

Video: Meet Natrielle Shorty and Matthew Reno, biology majors at Adams State University, a public institution that turns its students loose in southern Colorado’s high country to do on-site research. As one administrator puts it: “The mountain ranges are our labs.” And that’s true even for first-year students such as Shorty, who spent hours wading in mountain streams with her freshmen classmates, collecting and studying macroinvertebrates. Reno,
a third-year student, sees huge value in the field trips. “It makes the in-class work more meaningful,” he said. “It’s one thing to take notes, but applying research to a lesson made me realize, ‘Oh, there’s a reason we’re learning this!’”

With its robotics lab, rapid prototyping suite, video studio, and collaborative research spaces, the Innovation Studio marks Worcester Polytechnic Institute as a leader in STEM education.

Colleges and universities categorize learning outside the classroom in multiple ways. Some call it project-based learning. Others use terms such as place-based, community-based, or work-based. Some refer simply to student internships.

Video: Meet five student sleuths from University of Michigan’s Cold Case Partnership. The members of this specially selected group, all majoring in
criminology or criminal justice, work directly with Monroe County Sheriff’s detectives in an effort to crack an unsolved double murder from 1990.

The boxload of typewritten notes, yellowed newspaper clippings, audio cassettes and videotapes might well have been museum pieces for the group of Gen Z students visiting the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.

First-year Adams State University student Natrielle Shorty, clad in a pair of hip-length rubber waders, swayed in the rapids of North Crestone Creek, fighting to keep her balance—and her dignity.

We fund editorially independent news coverage to heighten public awareness and understanding of how colleges and universities must evolve to better serve today’s college students.

When it comes to learning—substantive, deep, lasting learning—there’s no substitute for hands-on experience.

Last month, during Mental Health Awareness Month, posters went up on campuses across the country, and social media hashtags trended. Now we’re in June, and the conversation begins to fade—while students’ struggles do not.

Nearly 9 in 10 Americans that currently do not have a degree believe that earning an academic credential is valuable. And yet, there is waning confidence in higher education across the country, as many people ask if they will get a return on their investment. In this episode, we visit Lupita Trujillo, a mother of three, who shares how these decisions sounded in her household. We also review the latest Gallup-Lumina Foundation reports about perceptions of higher education with Dr. Courtney Brown.

The investment analyst will research and analyze investment managers, asset allocation, risk and liquidity, and will evaluate and analyze the foundation’s $1.5 billion endowment.

MDRC researchers share practices likely to support part-time student success.

The strategic impact intern will support, coordinate, issue research, and advise on projects for the strategic impact and planning team.

We often hear that a bachelor’s degree pays off, literally, long-term, but is that always true? And how do short-term credentials like certificates and training badges really compare?

Higher ed leaders and policymakers need to fundamentally rethink the system of who pays for college, and how.

America once led the world, but the global economy is evolving, and other nations are surging ahead. We must recommit to innovation and training.

At the 2025 ASU+GSV Summit, Lumina Foundation President and CEO Jamie Merisotis gave a LightningX keynote on increasing the value of higher education.

What we learned at Lumina Foundation on the journey to the reach the nation’s 60% attainment goal: a look back over the past 16 years of working to increase the proportion of Americans with post-high school credentials.