Daily Lumina News 042721

Student debt is an ongoing topic in headlines and in politics.
Beth Akers, an economist and resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, offers her take on the college-cost debate and what policymakers, students, and parents should consider when it comes to investing in postsecondary education.

In December, Congress did something rare by today’s standards: In bipartisan action, lawmakers approved $900 billion in a second COVID-19 relief package, of which $7 billion was set aside for broadband. President Joe Biden has proposed a more than $2 trillion infrastructure package that earmarks $100 billion for the deployment of broadband to underserved rural and urban communities.
Public officials must now turn their attention on how best to bring high-speed internet service to those trapped on the wrong side of the digital divide. Partnering with higher education can be a major part of the solution.

In higher education, simple artificial intelligence-driven tools like chatbots, plagiarism-detecting software, and apps to check spelling and grammar are being joined by new, more powerful—and controversial—applications that answer academic questions, grade assignments, recommend classes, and even teach.
As the presence of this technology on campus grows, so do concerns about it. In at least one case, a seemingly promising use of AI in admissions decisions was halted because, by using algorithms to score applicants based on historical precedence, it perpetuated bias.

When classes at the University of Illinois suddenly went virtual after last year’s spring break, Joy Chen thought the idea of attending online sounded doable. Quickly, though, patience turned to frustration for the accomplished bioengineering student.
Chen's experience is echoed by countless college students whose senior year was morphed by the COVID-19 health crisis.