Daily Lumina News 082721

While the pandemic has made this a most unusual time in the labor market, millions of lost jobs are not yet filled. Labor shortages exist in many sectors, with a large percentage of people still looking for work. For some without a bachelor's degree, job prospects were bleak even before the pandemic.
A new apprenticeship program from IBM is offering a path to better opportunities.

Emergency aid to students was a priority for the three rounds of federal emergency COVID relief aid. Students received various amounts depending on the college they attend.
For many students at California's community colleges, the money came at a critical time. Nine students describe how the much-needed financial support enabled them to keep their college dreams alive.

Employees’ dedication to higher education’s mission has fueled colleges for many years. Even before the pandemic, the work seeped into nights and weekends. Many staff members stayed in their jobs despite the heavy workload, low pay, and rare opportunities for advancement. Some saw their work as intrinsic to their identities.
But the pandemic is causing many people to renegotiate this dynamic.

Wraparound supports and services such as mentoring, coaching, and career advising can go a long way toward increasing community college students' odds of success.
In this interview, Paige Ponder of Chicago-based One Million Degrees discusses the life-changing benefits of holistic support for some college students—plus how models like One Million Degrees might be replicated around the country.

Community colleges are trying a host of strategies—cash incentives, marketing campaigns, ice cream socials, free books, re-enrollment drives—to attract students this fall after steep enrollment declines during the pandemic.
Some administrators expressed hope earlier this summer that their institutions would begin recovering this fall from pandemic enrollment losses, but that rosy outlook took a hit with the spread of the Delta variant.

Making good on the promise of equitable education for all goes far beyond addressing the rising price of tuition and the Pell Grant’s failure to keep pace, writes Maria Flynn of Jobs for the Future in this op-ed. Affordability, it turns out, is just one side of the Rubik’s Cube.
Building a more equitable future hinges on expanding access not only to colleges and universities but also to the many lower-cost training programs that are now creating on-ramps to good jobs, she says.