Daily Lumina News 041524

In the mid-1990s, thousands of minors received life sentences without parole and entered prison at the same time that their peers were going to college or starting their careers. However, prisons often reserve education for those who will soon return to society. Those perceived as the least likely to leave had the fewest opportunities.
Today, more courts and lawmakers are rethinking extreme sentencing policies for young people. As a result, thousands of individuals who thought they’d die behind bars are getting out without an education.

When President Joe Biden announced his plan to provide student debt relief for 43 million borrowers nearly two years ago, there was a piece to his program that attracted less attention: a new student loan repayment program that would cut monthly payments in half for millions.
The repayment program, called SAVE, was meant to become a permanent fixture of the federal student loan system, offering a more affordable path to repayment, particularly for lower-income borrowers. But now, lawsuits by Republican-led states are seeking to upend it.

When Monica Tijerina re-enrolled in Texas A&M University-San Antonio last fall, she quickly realized child care for her young daughter, London, would be one of the hardest parts of her college journey.
She's not alone. Student-parents make up nearly a quarter of undergraduate students and nearly a third of graduate students. To ease the competing demands of classes, work, and family responsibilities, Texas A&M-San Antonio operates a free on-campus childcare program for eligible student-parents. A new 25,000-square-foot facility is set to open in the summer of 2026.

The upside of online learning is the ability to attract students who work full time or care for children. But online courses also run the risk of increasing isolation.
That challenge is already being felt acutely at the country’s roughly three dozen tribal colleges. They’re struggling with the conflict between trying to serve as many students as possible in some of the poorest parts of the United States and promoting in-person classes on campuses that often serve as cultural hubs for reservations and work to perpetuate Native American culture.

Ashley Garcia is not happy with the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid. This year's form is supposed to be far simpler, but it's been plagued with countless delays, miscalculations, and missteps. And that may mean fewer students end up in college next fall.
In this interview, college access experts discuss the challenges plaguing the new FAFSA, the drop in FAFSA completions, and what counselors and others can do to ease students' frustrations.

In the agricultural community of Immokalee, Florida, known for its large migrant worker population, a 40-year-old tutoring and mentoring program is making big strides in promoting higher education as a path to prosperity—and helping students prepare, apply, and be able to afford college.
For Jazmin Lara-Vasquez, the Guadalupe Center Tutor Corps program is about more than resources. It's also giving her the confidence to believe in the future—and envision what life after high school looks like.