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Jaime Ramirez-Mendoza worked as a peer adviser during his time as a student at the University of California at Davis, so he was familiar with guiding low-income students through the financial-aid process. Even so, he didn’t know until close to graduation that financial-aid decisions could be appealed.
Today, Ramirez-Mendoza is a higher-education policy analyst for The Education Trust. He's also the lead author of a new report that describes why the financial aid system, as currently practiced, could discriminate against first-generation low-income and minority students.

The latest fall college enrollment figures released this month tell a startling story that alarms educators: The sharp declines at community colleges—far larger than at four-year colleges—are due mostly to disappearing male students. Where are they? Community college leaders have several theories.
Many young men were forced to take jobs to help their families. Others were always academically fragile students prone to put off college or drop out and the pandemic pushed them over the edge. Yet others were derailed by online applications and courses or lacked technology to cope.

The nation’s student debt crisis is back on the agenda in Washington. Monthly payments on $1.6 trillion federal student loans have been suspended since late March, but that coronavirus break is scheduled to expire at the end of January.
The question now is whether 43 million borrowers will have to resume monthly payments in February or if Washington will act on bolder proposals not simply to postpone but to cancel student debt altogether.

It's been a tough fall semester for many American colleges and universities. Still, some university officials say that lessons from the fall will allow them to do something many experts considered unthinkable a few months ago: bring even more students back onto campus in January and February, when classes resume for the spring.
But not everyone is so confident.

For freshman students across the country, COVID-19 has caused a major disruption for the start of their college careers. Some are determined that the solitary nature of online learning will not wreck their freshman year and slow down their plans to graduate within four years. Others are not so optimistic. The pandemic has taken a toll on family finances, leaving them with no choice but to withdraw for a semester or, worse, drop out altogether.
Several college freshmen in California offer insight into the pandemic's effect on their education—and what's helping to keep them on track.

While images of maskless, partying coeds have gone viral this semester, other students are working to keep themselves and their peers safe from COVID-19—holding workshops on virus prevention, signing up to clean and monitor campus buildings, and encouraging others to follow campus rules.
With coronavirus cases spiking nationwide, and campuses serving as hotspots for transmission—6,531 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed at 78 California colleges as of Nov. 19, according to data from The New York Times—these student-led efforts could become even more important as schools plan for the spring.