Lumina Foundation is committed to increasing the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees, certificates and other credentials to 60 percent by 2025. |
| Amelia Benavides-Colón and Katherine Mangan, The Chronicle of Higher Education SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn Pressure is building on colleges to stand firm on punishing students who run afoul of conduct codes during protests against the Israel-Hamas war. Local prosecutors have dropped criminal charges against many of the protesters who were arrested last spring, but many students still face campus disciplinary proceedings. Some campuses will continue working through those hearings well into the fall, leaving students’ status uncertain as the next academic year begins. |
| Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Ed SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn This past week provided plenty of reminders that Florida governor Ron DeSantis’s conservative overhaul of public higher education in his state still isn’t over—especially not at New College of Florida, where the Republican stacked the Board of Trustees with conservative members back in January 2023. The institution is still undergoing a conservative transformation, as evidenced by the removal of gender studies texts and the departure of the faculty chair and other professors. |
| Charlotte West, WBEZ Chicago SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn The looming closure of Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet, Illinois, has some of the men locked up inside worried about what it will mean for their ongoing education, even as they express relief to leave the dangerous, aging prison. Despite its poor physical conditions, Stateville has some of the most robust programming of any prison in the state due to its proximity to Chicago. The prison currently has five colleges operating there, while many other facilities have no higher education at all. |
| Emma Gallegos, EdSource SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn A new report delivers bad and good news for the Central Valley. The bad news: The vast majority of parents, 79 percent, want their children to get a bachelor’s degree, but just 26 percent of students in the region are on pace to achieve that. The good news: Central Valley educators in both K-12 and higher education are pioneering strategies that could transform the region’s low college attainment rates. |
| Emma Folts, PublicSource SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn If Lynnsie Hagman had not received help applying for college, she may have become another statistic of “summer melt," a phenomenon in which high school seniors with accepted college offers do not enroll in the fall because of barriers they face during the summer. Financial pressures, family needs, and logistical challenges can all steer away aspiring scholars like Hagman. This year’s bungled rollout of the revised Free Application for Federal Student Aid could make matters worse, advocates predict. |
| Naomi Nix, Cat Zakrzewski, and Nitasha Tiku, The Washington Post SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn Groups like Girls in Tech and Women Who Code promised to attract women and people of color to the tech industry. Now they’re closing up shop, laying off staff, or rebranding their efforts to stay afloat. The drop in support for programs that tech companies once touted as a sign of their commitment to adding women, Black people, and Hispanic people to their ranks follows a right-wing campaign to challenge diversity initiatives in court. |
| Cristian Reyes, New America |
| Williesha Morris, Advance Local |
| Julietta Bisharyan, The Modesto Bee |
| Kelsea Frobes, The Nevada Independent |
| Joshua Kim, Learning Innovation |
RACIAL JUSTICE AND EQUITY |
| Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Ed |
| Jason Gonzales, Chalkbeat Colorado |
| Karen Dace, INSIGHT Into Diversity |
| Laura Ascione, eSchool News |
| Michael Vasquez, The Chronicle of Higher Education |
| Kenda Burrows, Quad Cities Regional Business Journal |
| Ashley Mowreader, Inside Higher Ed |
| Edwin J. Viera, Public News Service |
| Alcino Donadel, University Business |
| American Council on Education |
| The American Association of Colleges and Universities |
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