Daily Lumina News 122221

As 2021 comes to a close, this episode of dotEDU delves into some of the year's most pressing higher ed issues, including the pandemic's continued impact on teaching and learning and the forthcoming restart of student loan repayments.
ACE Senior Vice President Terry Hartle joins the conversation to discuss the higher education policy successes and failures of 2021.

Many student borrowers were rocked by unemployment, dislocation, and trauma during the pandemic. Even before the health crisis, more than 1 million people defaulted on student debt every year.
In February, the Department of Education plans to turn on the nation’s student debt collection machinery for the first time in nearly two years. The fallout may impact the borrowers who can least afford it.

Deven Meyers and Pencie Culiver are both familiar with Arizona State University’s Tempe campus. Meyers is a student there; Culiver lives there—in Mirabella at ASU, a senior living residence that opened last December.
With perks like access to classes and campus IDs, Mirabella is billed as an immersive alternative to traditional lifelong learning. And regardless of their background, retirees here are convinced they have more to give, rejecting a mindset of decline for one of usefulness and growth.

As a community college student, Mike Muñoz struggled to find stable housing. He also was a first-generation college student and a student-parent, raising his daughter as he worked toward his degrees.
Now the incoming superintendent-president of Long Beach City College, Muñoz wants to help students facing similar challenges find success as he did.

On Dec. 15, 2020, several Historically Black Colleges and Universities got some unexpected—unheard of—news: They were the recipients of a multimillion-dollar gift with no strings attached.
The donor turned out to be billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. A year later, leaders from three of those HBCUs share how they've used the funds so far—and what they hope to do next.

One of the nation’s top education officials is urging colleges to stop withholding academic records from students who owe them unpaid debts.
U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona’s remarks reflect a growing consensus among college leaders that withholding transcripts for relatively small debts can have a devastating impact on students' academic and career trajectories.