Daily Lumina News 022222

Colleges and universities are coming around to the realization that they are educating moms and dads. But comprehensive support—mentoring, community, child care, and grant aid—for the nearly 5 million undergraduates who are parents is lagging.
The disconnect is becoming more apparent in the experiences of Black fathers.

Community college is a key rung on the economic ladder. Half of all college students in this country go to community college. They tend to be older and have more stressors: class, parenthood, family, work, the pandemic. And unlike four-year schools, community colleges often lack mental health services.
Students and health experts join this episode of Here & Now for a discussion about understanding and navigating the mental health gaps in community college.

Many employees today will need lifelong learning to stay current with changing workplace demands—and this often translates into more credentials and training.
Author Sean Gallagher weighs in on the rise in new kinds of credentials and what they mean for the value of the degree in the job market.

The press tends to focus on the failures of higher education, especially the low graduation rates, poor outcomes, and massive debts at schools with large numbers of low-income enrollees.
Yet hundreds of postsecondary schools are doing right by their students—and that work offers valuable lessons for the rest of the country.

Long Beach City College and the University of Southern California are launching a new program to help young people with gang associations attend and complete college.
Program highlights include offering up to 300 prospective students a series of supports over the course of three years to guide them from enrollment to a certificate or degree or enable them to transfer to a four-year university.

Community colleges across the country are experimenting with targeted programs to get more adult learners into and through certificate or degree programs.
North Carolina is a leader in this work—and EducationNC, a nonprofit newsroom, has been following the developments through on-the-ground reporting.