Daily Lumina News 022224

One of the looming concerns in higher education is the demographic cliff: The number of traditional college-aged students is set to peak in 2025 and then decline dramatically over the next several years. Beyond this, fewer 18- to 24-year-olds are choosing to enroll in college, leading institutions to consider an older audience to boost enrollment.
On this podcast, two higher education professionals share the challenges and opportunities in serving adult learners and how institutions can better help them persist and graduate.

America needs talent. And students shouldn’t have to mortgage their futures for a fair shot at middle-class security. The country routinely provided this in years past, but now the dream increasingly seems out of reach.
That’s why this year’s legislative sessions matter so much—and why making the connection between education and economic development is more important than ever, writes Lumina Foundation's Jamie Merisotis in his latest column for Forbes.

Starting this week, President Joe Biden will email 153,000 student loan borrowers enrolled in his signature repayment plan to let them know their debts—totaling $1.2 billion—have been forgiven.
The notice makes good on the administration’s promise to accelerate forgiveness for borrowers with low original balances who are enrolled in the Saving on a Valuable Education (Save) plan. Rather than wait 20 to 25 years for relief through other income-driven repayment plans, enrollees in the Save plan who borrowed less than $12,000 can have their debt wiped clean after 10 years of payments.

Education leaders from colleges and universities across the country say they’ve met and mentored many people like Everett Anderson throughout their careers—students who had the potential to be strong teachers but were thwarted by the Praxis Core or other “basic skills tests” that states have long required for entry into teacher preparation programs.
That reality is propelling a number of states to reconsider their approach. But not everyone is on board.

"All these unheard voices. Please let them be heard." The lyrics are from a song called “Unheard Voices” that was created by "CT" as part of a song writing competition in which incarcerated youth write and produce their own music.
The competition is the brainchild of BreakFree Education, an organization that partners with juvenile justice agencies across the nation to offer educational programs. Now, thanks to a partnership with Berklee Online College of Music, more incarcerated youth are being given the chance to connect their love of music to education while earning college credit.

In a fractured and saturated higher-ed landscape, Pennsylvania’s governor wants to build a new system with such bold measures as $1,000 grants for all students and performance-based funding for colleges.
But perhaps no provision is more remarkable than the prong of the plan that calls for combining the state’s 15 community colleges with the 10 four-year universities of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.