Daily Lumina News 053122

Many programs across the country are targeting the 39 million people who have taken some college classes but never finished. But instead of retrofitting the traditional four-year bachelor’s degree program, Morgan State University has designed its program specifically for adults who are often working full time and managing family responsibilities while going to school.
The program gives credit for work experience, provides flexible online classes, and offers in-state tuition prices to every student, regardless of whether they live in Maryland, to help make the bachelor’s degree more financially accessible.

Plenty of students enter community college with the goal of transferring to a four-year institution. The benefits are well-publicized, after all. Finish your basic courses for less cash while staying closer to home, or get your associate degree and earn more money for your bachelor’s. But how many students are reaching that goal?

The pause on federal student loan payments has given loan holders a glimpse of what life could look like if they didn’t have the debt.
In this interview, five borrowers offer personal stories of how the payment pause is helping them. Several talk about how they approached paying for college and the ways in which they tried to avoid debt; others share their hopes for what comes next.

Since the 1999 Columbine school shooting, more than 292,000 students have faced gun violence in their schools. Most recently, on May 23, 2022, a gunman entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, killing 19 children and two teachers in what is the deadliest school shooting in America since the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting.
In their own words, student survivors of a school shooting or shooting threats describe the impact of these experiences on their lives.

In a tight labor market, more employers are wooing Minnesotans like Kai Westby by eliminating four-year degree requirements for jobs and offering to train new hires themselves.
Companies in Minnesota and elsewhere are prioritizing specific skills and experience over educational background, opening more careers to people without degrees. The move also is helping companies diversify their workforce and expand applicant pools.

Author Jeff Selingo and Danielle Douglas-Gabriel of The Washington Post debate the value of traditional four-year college and how well it’s preparing students for the future on this episode of Radio Times.
They also weigh in on the broken and inequitable admissions process, explore alternatives for high school grads, and explain what’s happening on the policy front with student debt.