Daily Lumina News 072622

Traditionally, a college degree has been presented as a bundled package with set prices for a bachelor’s degree regardless of one's major.
Unbundling the system at the program level would allow institutions to set different tuition rates for programs depending on student demand. This focus on value at the program level might prompt significant changes—and finally break the cost curve—in higher education.

For students and faculty alike, it feels like dé·jà vu.
The new COVID variant, BA5, is spiking in California. Some universities in the hardest-hit counties are reinstating mask mandates and re-evaluating their response strategies.

Student advocates for reproductive rights at Washington University are growing increasingly frustrated with what they say is the university’s tepid response to Missouri’s abortion ban—and a refusal on the part of administrators to acknowledge any of their concerns.

School districts across the country are facing a rampant teacher shortage. Current teachers are stretched thin, and younger people are hesitant to enter the profession.
Two higher ed leaders offer their recommendations on practices that can contribute to recruiting and training the much-needed new and more diverse crop of future K-12 faculty.

The competition for students isn't just other institutions, says the new president of Cuyahoga Community College. It's also the gig economy, and the college has to step up to pitch its value to these workers.
Michael Baston explains more in this interview.

After two consecutive pandemic years when fewer and fewer students applied for federal financial aid, the number of high school seniors who submitted Free Application for Federal Student Aid forms rose slightly this year.
Several factors are driving the trend, say analysts, including mandatory completion of FAFSA applications in states like Texas and Alabama, as well as the full return to in-person learning and more access to college counseling.