Daily Lumina News 090722

The consequences of overturning Roe v. Wade extend far beyond abortion access. In a post-Roe world, thousands of future doctors now face roadblocks to accessing clinical training in abortion care.
Experts say these new barriers could ultimately limit access not just to abortion training, but to all obstetric and gynecological care. For many medical students, that means the path to becoming an OB-GYN will be more difficult and less appealing.

Chelsea Raker gets emotional when talking about what Northwestern University’s Prison Education Program means to her. “Just knowing that you are deserving of pursuing your dreams makes you feel human,” she says.
The program at Logan Correctional Center is the only one in Illinois and among a small number nationwide where incarcerated women can earn a bachelor’s degree.

Some conservative groups are exploring legal options that could throw a wrench in President Joe Biden’s plan to cancel a third of the $1.7 trillion in federal student loan debt.
Multiple Republican lawmakers say the plan is an illegal use of executive authority. But proving that in court could be tricky, as groups scramble to search for a plaintiff with the legal standing to sue.

Colleges, universities, and non-profit organizations are redesigning policies and programs to help more adults complete a college degree or credential.
In Part Two of this podcast on America’s “some college, no degree population," leaders from Graduate Philadelphia and Sacramento State University discuss how they are helping former students who took breaks from their education finish what they started. (You can listen to Part One on the challenges facing returning adult students here.)

As fall 2022 picks up in earnest for most colleges, mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic doesn’t dominate conversations the way it did in January or last year at this time.
College leaders are now focused on a new set of challenges, including recent enrollment losses, the end of federal COVID relief funding, and an emerging mental health crisis.

Five years after California adopted a law transforming remedial education, some colleges still have remedial classes. New legislation will make it difficult to keep them.
Assembly Bill 1705 would mostly ban remedial math and English classes, which can’t transfer with credit to four-year universities. If Gov. Gavin Newsom signs the bill, it will affect more than 40 colleges that continue to offer those classes.