Daily Lumina News 102320

A new study suggests that free college programs still have a long way to go to make college affordable for all students from low-income backgrounds.
The report, from The Education Trust, offers five steps policymakers can take to ensure they are using free college policies to advance equity in their states: include all students; go beyond tuition; be transparent; invest in student success; and make improvements over time.

From the beginning, college this fall has been a strange and unfamiliar experience. Faced with alarming numbers of COVID-19 cases, some universities sent their students home. Others thought that “stay in place” orders and campuswide quarantines might do the trick.
Student journalists offer a rare glimpse into how schools are handling the pandemic—and what life on a campus where everyone is supposed to stay inside and avoid socializing looks like.

Young Latino voters have similar priority issues as other young Americans: access to higher education, health care, the economy, and how to afford college, among others. But they also have different interests and concerns tied to their family backgrounds, along with their social and economic statuses.
In this video, eight young Latinos speak about their politics, priorities, and concerns leading to the upcoming presidential election.

As higher education faces a potential exodus of students—particularly lower-income students who attend community colleges—what role could creative financing play in helping students bridge the gap from college to a career?
Chris Keaveney thinks his company, Meritize, can be part of the solution. The private lender focuses on reducing risk and friction for students, colleges, and employers. Keaveney talks about what the model could mean for skills-based learning in this podcast.

How does perhaps the most significant presidential election in our lifetimes fit into campus life? Not easily, say two professors who have been watching, and worrying, whether colleges are doing enough to help students understand the issues underlying this election and handle its aftermath.

Work-study jobs may seem like a perk, but in a normal year, the program provides nearly $1.2 billion in help for college for more than 612,000 students across the country. They are paid at least minimum wage for part-time jobs ranging from receptionists in college offices to attendants in campus gyms or aides in local schools. The federal government typically covers about 50 percent of the wages, and the institutions pay the rest.
Many of those jobs were on campuses that have gone completely or mostly online during the pandemic, and colleges and universities have not been able to adapt all of them to this new reality.