Daily Lumina News 050224

How can policymakers and college leaders show that getting a postsecondary education pays off later in life? It begins by asking the right questions and using the right data, says longtime policy expert Zakiya Smith Ellis.
In this interview, Smith Ellis discusses how individuals' financial outcomes have become the primary determinant of college value, as well as what institutional leaders should be doing to ensure their academic programs are truly serving students.

The U.S. Department of Education announced this week a long-awaited fix that officials say will allow students with parents who lack a Social Security number to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, which many families have been unable to do since the online form became available late last year.
But some college-access experts are not rushing to celebrate.

After four tumultuous years, the Class of 2024 is ready to graduate. How are they feeling about life after college? What are they looking for in a career? And how is their outlook shaping their job application behavior?
A new report highlights soon-to-be grads’ desire for job stability, their willingness to branch outside traditional roles for their discipline, and how learners will deal with financial stress after graduation.

Felecia Russell had always been a good student in high school. But getting to college would not be easy. That's because she didn't have permanent legal status in the United States.
In a new book, Russell shares her journey of being an undocumented student and her fight to keep Black immigrants from being 'erased from the American story.'

Jazz Lewis wound up at the University of Maryland not by luck or privilege but by the strings of a guitar. Now a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, Lewis paid for his college degree with a mix of scholarships and money from stints with his church band. As one of the first men in his family to attend college, he says higher education was by no means a given; he earned it.
That’s why, Lewis says, he co-sponsored legislation designed to eliminate the use of legacy preferences at Maryland universities.

Manufacturing in the United States is experiencing a major resurgence, so much so that employers will need to fill 3.8 million jobs over the next eight years.
Carolyn Lee of The Manufacturing Institute weighs in on what's behind the comeback in manufacturing jobs and the skills and training these new positions will require.