Lumina Foundation is committed to increasing the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees, certificates and other credentials to 60 percent by 2025. | Eric Kelderman, The Chronicle of Higher Education SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn Some of the best-known college rankings have for decades put the wealthiest and most-selective institutions at or near the top. A new ranking puts Harvard University at 441st—fifth from the bottom. The list, which comes from a recent American Enterprise Institute study, highlights universities in a very different way—by ranking their presidents based on improving student outcomes and rewarding efforts such as cutting tuition, boosting the graduation rate, and increasing the racial and socioeconomic diversity of undergraduates. Experts, meanwhile, are calling the study an interesting thought experiment with flawed methodology. | Jack Kelly and Hallie Claflin, Wisconsin Watch SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn With Election Day squarely in view, both Democrats and Republicans are shifting their focus to turning out every possible voter—including first-time presidential election voters on college campuses. Every vote matters in Wisconsin. The last two presidential races in this critical battleground state have each been decided by about 21,000 votes, or one percent. And next week’s contest between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump could be even closer. That's why, this time around, college students could be the deciding factor in who wins the White House. | Jamie Merisotis, Diverse Issues in Higher Education SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn When it comes to economic change and technology, it’s not that the robots are coming to take our jobs. It’s that we must develop our very human capacities for learning and growth. Lighting that path, adapting to a future marked by historic, sweeping innovation in technology and society, is the work of higher education—in 2025 and beyond. And while America’s colleges and universities face their own challenges, they’ll find plenty of support if they can make the case that they’re uniquely meeting the country’s growing need for talent at a scale no other institution can, says Lumina Foundation's Jamie Merisotis in this op-ed. | Molly Minta, Mississippi Today SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn It can be hard to cast a ballot in Mississippi, where state voting laws consistently rank as among the strictest in the nation. But for the state’s tens of thousands of college students—many of whom are voting for the first time while also trying to stay on top of homework, classes, chores, and having a social life—the barriers to the ballot box faced by all Mississippi voters pose an even greater challenge. | Mathew Miranda, The Sacramento Bee SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn Latino students now represent more than 25 percent of the enrollment at the University of California, Davis, positioning the school to qualify as a Hispanic-Serving Institution. The HSI label has become an increasingly more attainable distinction as the country’s Latino population grows. About 600 institutions across the country met the HSI definition in 2022-23, according to the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities. But are schools with that designation living up to the name? And if so, how? | America at a Crossroads SHARE: Facebook • LinkedIn The educational backgrounds of voters have become a dividing force in American politics. That's especially true in this presidential election. A recent PBS News/NPR/Marist poll found that Donald Trump is leading among voters without a college degree by 10 percentage points. Kamala Harris is leading with college graduates by 21 points. To explore this so-called diploma divide, reporter Judy Woodruff visits two neighboring but very different counties in Michigan, where both candidates have repeatedly made their case as this year's campaign nears the end. | Ashley Mowreader, Inside Higher Ed |
Themis Kaniklidou, The EvoLLLution | Heather Adams and Seth Marc Kamen, Beyond Transfer |
Danielle Smith, Public News Service |
Kira Jenkins, Virginia Business (Virginia) | RACIAL JUSTICE AND EQUITY | Brooklyn Draisey, Iowa Capital Dispatch |
Josh Moody, Inside Higher Ed |
Jasper Smith, The Chronicle of Higher Education | Patrice Onwuka, Philanthropy Roundtable |
Brendan Cantwell, The Chronicle Review |
George Boggs, San Diego Union-Tribune | Sam Drysdale, State House News Service |
Kat Struhar, The CT Mirror |
Daniel de Visé, USA Today | Matthew Baughman, The Leader-Telegram (Wisconsin) |
Tiara Moultrie and Laura Valle-Gutierrez, The Century Foundation | Jason Gonzales, Chalkbeat Colorado |
Kyle Sullender, New Jersey Business Magazine |
Laura Spitalniak, Higher Ed Dive | Jason Fuller, Patrick Jarenwattananon, and Juana Summers, WFAE |
Brian Weckerly, OurQuadCities | The Chronicle of Higher Education |
Association of College and University Educators | Center for American Progress |
The Career Ladders Project | |